


Funny How the Heart Can Be Deceiving

by Loredib (Loredi)



Category: Glee
Genre: Abusive Relationships, Alternate Universe - Actors, BAMF Santana Lopez, Bad Jokes, Banter, Drama, Dramedy, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Happy Ending, Humor, M/M, Minor Blaine Anderson/Kurt Hummel, Minor Blaine Anderson/Sam Evans, Minor Santana Lopez/Brittany S. Pierce, Name-Calling, Not Blaine or Klaine Friendly, Romance, Sam Evans is a Saint, Singing, Twitter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-05
Updated: 2020-06-12
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:21:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 41,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24549064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Loredi/pseuds/Loredib
Summary: Blaine and Sebastian are co-stars in the Fox teenage dramedy Dalton. Kurt receives an offer to be Blaine’s fake boyfriend. Sebastian has been after Blaine for a while. TV Actors AU + fake relationship with a twist. Enemies to friends to lovers.StarringKurt Hummel: a struggling actor in LASebastian Smythe: series co-star with a bad-boy imageBlaine Anderson: McDreamy, but not reallyTo be clear: Fake!Klaine, real!Kurtbastian (eventually), Blaine is the villain (but he's still human)Featuring: 2012-3 songs (too many of which are P!nk songs) and so many lines taken directly from Glee
Relationships: Kurt Hummel/Sebastian Smythe
Comments: 192
Kudos: 222





	1. You’ll see I’m not so tough (just because I’m in love)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [pana_po_o](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pana_po_o/gifts), [Sini_Malfoy (Moccafountain)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moccafountain/gifts), [Mondisaster](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mondisaster/gifts).



> I planned and started writing this fic in 2013. That could explain the 'vintage' feeling you might get by reading it. Most of the songs were picked in that year too, so they're now 'outdated' or 'old' or something.
> 
> I finished because I found out recently that the Kurtbastian ship is not dead, and I felt SO.FUCKING.HAPPY. I wrote this thanks to Romi and Moni, who read the first chapter and encouraged me to continue (I honestly would've quit if not for you), and Julie, who's the most supportive person ever.
> 
> Honestly, this is full of things that make me happy, and that's the only reason they're there. It also pays homage to other beautiful Kurtbastian fics I've read (or I hope it does, at least). 
> 
> It's 10 chapters long + happy epilogue. I'm going to update daily.
> 
> Finally, a warning: English is not my first language. I tried SO HARD, but you'll find mistakes, I'm sure. If you point them out, I'll happily correct them. 
> 
> For my three (now four) readers with love.
> 
> Note: This fic was published about a month before Naya's tragic passing. Naya was a loved soul. Santana was one of my favorite characters ever. She's a hero in this story, and she'll remain that way in loving memory of Naya. She will always be in my heart. May she rest in peace.

**Chapter one: You’ll see I’m not so tough (just because I’m in love)**

It all started with a “No,” as such things would.

“No.”

“Listen.”

“No way. There’s no way. How can you even…? That’s… gross and degrading and unprofessional…”

Santana rolled her eyes and then stared angrily at him until he calmed down and stopped muttering to himself.

“Listen, baby face,” she started, in her this-is-serious-business tone. “You wanted an opportunity? Well, this is it. Here you are, the world at your feet, the doors opened, heads on your plate, so on and so forth.”

Kurt groaned.

“I’m not a— a—,” he whispered.

“Nor am I asking you to be one. You’re an actor, aren’t you? I’m telling you to fucking do your job.”

“No. That’s just… that’s not me, Santana. I couldn’t do it.”

Santana’s epic bitchface was on.

“You haven’t even asked me who our client is,” she said, slyly.

“That wouldn’t make a difference. I don’t—”

“It’s Blaine Anderson.”

“No way.”

Here’s the thing. Santana was Kurt’s agent, mind you, more out of pity and union between former Lima Losers than anything. Kurt was an up-and-coming (more “coming” than “up”) actor struggling in LA, and she was in PR for some very well-known people in the business. She knew her stuff and she had tried to find an opportunity for him to “make it”.

Apparently, her concept of “opportunity” was this. There was an “opening” for a “position” as the “boyfriend” of a world-famous series star. Apparently, in showbiz _boyfriend_ was a position and not a relationship. Kurt felt somewhere between aghast and stupidly excited.

“You’re lying. You’re lying so I will sign the contract and once I do it, you’ll tell me the job is for someone old and wrinkled and disgusting.”

Santana simply stared him down, her arms crossed and one eyebrow up.

“As far as I know, you’re able to read, penguin. Read through the contract before you sign it if you think I’d lie about something this big.”

Then she proceeded to pass him a copy of the document.

“That’s a draft. We can add whatever we need and then our lawyers will take care of it and we’ll sign it with Anderson’s lawyers.”

Kurt took the document with shaky hands and read the first two pages, his eyes widening and widening until he stopped reading and looked up.

“Really?”

“Really. Got you your fake McDreamy and your real stair to stardom all at once. Well, he’s more step-sized than stair-sized, but anyway. Am I awesome or what?” she finished, with jazz hands and everything.

“I—,” started Kurt, out of breath. “I’ll think about it.”

Santana smiled viciously.

“Cool. Send your comments and additions to the contract by tomorrow evening.”

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

Kurt was an assiduous _Dalton_ fan. The series had been running for one and a half seasons and had just been renewed for one more. A success, rare of Fox. Kurt loved it in part because it was about a glee club, and in part because it was set in an all-male preppy school and some of the characters happened to be gay.

While he was growing up, there hadn’t been many gay characters on TV —and most of the ones who actually appeared had tragic stories. Now, at 22, he was hooked on the first gay teen dramedy he saw televised. A big influence was of course Blaine Anderson. He was the actor who played Darren, the charming young leader of the Warblers, an all-male a cappella glee club. Kurt loved to watch him discover what being gay meant because, as a teen, he had kind of struggled with the same problems. It didn’t hurt that Blaine was gorgeous. He had black, curly hair and bright eyes that hung the moon. (Nope, that was not an exaggeration.)

Kurt got home and read the whole contract. When he was done, he sighed.

“This can’t be possible,” he said to himself. “These things don’t happen to me.”

Out of curiosity, he went online and opened the tumblr tag for “Darren: Dalton character.” Usually, nothing much about Blaine’s personal life came up, not without someone shouting about tagging correctly, but this time it was full of crying gifs and “I don’t believe in love anymore” declarations.

“Oh, wow.”

Apparently, earlier this year Blaine had had an epic fight with his long-term boyfriend, a model by the name of Sam Evans. They had decided to make a public announcement this week. Kurt didn’t even know Blaine had had a boyfriend. And, wow, the boy was gorgeous too. How had anyone thought Kurt could measure up…? Had they even _seen_ his picture?

“Oh boy, I'd better get this signed before they realize they’ve hired a baby penguin,” he murmured.

Once he clicked an article, the rumor mile went off. Sam and Blaine had been boyfriends for over two years, more or less since the day _Dalton_ had started airing. It was funny, now that Kurt knew what happened behind the scenes. It was probably an arranged relationship too, so why had it ended? Had Sam gotten what he wanted and left Blaine?

The rumors were so many and so different that it was puzzling. Blaine was cheating, Sam was cheating, Blaine wanted to marry him and Sam didn’t want to, Sam was heterosexual, Blaine was too busy filming to pay enough attention to him, Blaine was a manipulative bastard, they were sleeping with many people at the same time…

After he read all the bullshit published about Blaine, he started getting uneasy. He decided to stop and carry out his nightly ritual before going to bed. He phoned Santana early the next morning.

“OK, what’s the catch?”

“What do you mean?” she asked, in a suspiciously sweet voice.

“Gorgeous international star, recently single, hires baby-faced nobody extraordinaire,” he explained. “Come on, Santana, yesterday I was shocked, now I’ve thought it through. What’s the catch?”

“Let’s do something,” she said. “Meet him, have your fun, then you can decide. We’ll just add a ‘confidential meet and greet’ clause.”

Kurt wanted to say no, because everything seemed too suspicious. But then again, having his own personal meet and greet with Blaine Anderson?

“You had me at ‘meet him.’”

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

_Dalton_ was on hiatus before the second half of the season, but that didn’t mean Blaine wasn’t filming, so Kurt had to join him at the Fox studio. Santana explained that if Kurt accepted the deal, he would be Blaine’s boyfriend for a year while he filmed, then while the half-season aired, and then through some “surprises” that were coming up later. Then he'd get to decide if he wanted to renew the contract or not.

When Kurt got to the set, he gawked at everything with big doe eyes. He made a conscious effort not to open his mouth too much, though.

“Well,” said Santana holding her Gucci purse in one hand and Kurt’s in the other. “Here we are.”

They were there under the guise of an audition for a guest role in _Dalton_ , along with five other young men, so that the public wouldn’t find him extremely suspicious _._ “I wish I was actually here for that,” he thought, “it’d be way less complicated.”

He was taken to an empty office, sat on a comfy chair, and given a cup of coffee. Santana winked at him when he was all settled and then left him alone. He breathed in deeply. He had thought and overthought about this all night long and he’d come to the conclusion that this could either make him or destroy him.

He played different scenarios in his head, while he waited. If he disliked Blaine on sight, well, nothing happened except a tiny heartbreak. If he liked Blaine but the feeling wasn’t mutual, the heartbreak would be worse. If they liked each other… Kurt started sweating. What was this “relationship” going to involve?

He was starting to work up to a panic attack when the door finally opened. He stopped breathing and turned slightly.

There he was. His hair was shorter than the last time Kurt had seen him on TV. He was also shorter than expected. But he did have those familiar big brown eyes and a warm smile.

“Hello,” he greeted, extending his hand.

Kurt stood up, towering over him awkwardly, and shook his hand, hoping it wasn’t too sweaty and disgusting.

“You must be Kurt?” Blaine asked, softly.

That was when Kurt noticed that he had forgotten how to breathe and how to speak and how to everything.

He opened his mouth and an embarrassing squeak came out. 

“Yes, yes I am. I’m Kurt, Kurt Hummel,” he said, before giving back Blaine’s hand, a minute too late for it not to be awkward.

“Well, I’m Blaine, Blaine Anderson, but you must know that already,” he answered with a friendly smile. “Why don’t we sit? Are you alright? How did you find your coffee?”

Kurt swoon a little on the inside. On the outside, he only blushed. He knew he did because he could feel how hot his face was. Damn his pale complexion.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

Santana was sitting in a director’s chair, her long legs stretched out as she hold what looked like a margarita in her right hand. Typical of her, to get a cocktail in a place where no alcohol was allowed.

“Well?” she asked, rising an eyebrow.

Kurt sat in the chair next to her and sighed.

“He’s dreamy,” he answered.

She smiled at him.

“Did I hear a ‘yes, Santana, you were right, this is awesome, _you_ are awesome, I will be your bitch, forever worship you and donate sperm for your children with Brit’?”

Kurt rolled his eyes.

“Not in so many words but yes, you’re awesome. He’s _so_ dreamy, I can’t believe you landed me this date… uh… role.”

She suddenly turned serious, left her margarita aside and looked him in the eye.

“Did Anderson, in any way, imply that this was supposed to be actual dating with actual commitment and blood sharing or whatever actual dating implies?” she asked.

Kurt played with his airplane brooch, nervously.

“No,” he whispered, avoiding her gaze.

“Did he in any way make you feel uncomfortable?”

“No!” he denied immediately. “He’s dreamy! He explained everything very nicely, how his break-up damaged his image and how he doesn’t feel prepared for a new relationship but needs it to get the media off his back. He said we could be friends. And that he will help me get a foot in the door.”

“OK,” she said. “This must be very clear, sweet cheeks. You are _not_ going to be dating Prince Eric wannabe over there. Don’t ever feel obligated to that.”

“Obligated?!” asked Kurt, in astonishment. “I’d be an honor to date him for real.”

Santana made a face.

“Yeah, no, hold your horses. This is a role, Hummel. He’s only _playing_ McDreamy.”

“I don’t know why you say that when he’s actually so…”

“If you say _dreamy_ once more, I will puke on your fancy shoes out of spite.”

Kurt moved away so his shoes were safe.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

“And that’s more or less what’s been happening,” finished Kurt after having rambled at his dad for half an hour, trying to explain the situation. He was not supposed to do so. But he’d never lie to his _dad_.

“I don’t know Kurt… are you really sure?”

“This is all very legal, Dad. Santana’s hot-shot lawyers are reviewing everything. And he was really nice to me. This could be it, Dad. People might actually see me and give me a chance. That’s all I’ve been working for these past years, and I—”

“I’m sure there are other ways, perhaps if—”

“But I’ve done everything!” cried Kurt, a little mad. “I’ve knocked on so many doors, I’ve taken so many workshops, I’ve been to so many auditions I can’t even remember all of them. I’ve been trying really hard and no one will give a chance to some loser from Nowhere, Ohio. But they might give Blaine Anderson’s _boyfriend_ a chance.”

“Kurt—”

“It’s all I need, Dad. One chance. Please, please support my decision.”

Burt sighed.

“You’re an adult, Kurt. I can’t stop you from doing anything, even if I don’t really agree with it. But please keep me updated. Everything that happens, I want to know. And the moment that boy tries some funny business, you’re outta there, got it?”

Kurt laughed in relief.

“Got it, Dad.”

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

The day the contract was to be signed, Blaine was filming and only had twenty minutes to go to the private office, stand witness and sign. Santana and Kurt arrived early in her BMW, which made Kurt feel safer by not standing out like a sore thumb in the Fox parking lot.

Santana went ahead to check that their lawyers and Blaine’s lawyers had everything prepared in the office. Kurt felt as nervous as if he was going to the courthouse to get married.

He wandered aimlessly around the halls until he heard Blaine’s voice and decided to take a peek. They were in the middle of a scene and everyone around was standing quietly, so he did the same and watched in awe.

“That’s not true,” another actor, probably Nick, was saying. “You’re a great friend, a great person, and a great inspiration for the rest of us.”

Kurt smiled. _Dalton_ was known to be full of lines out of a self-help book, but it was still heartwarming.

“If I went away, nothing—”

“Darren, you’re a part of us! You will always be. If you really want to go, do it, but don’t go away thinking you’re not important, because you _are_.”

There were some seconds of silence. Then…

“Cut,” someone shouted. “I think that’d be the last take.”

The other actor’s transformation when he went out of character was obvious. He stood up, went towards his chair to get a pack of cigarettes, and rushed outside. Blaine, on the other hand, seemed to stay being Darren when he turned to see him.

“Kurt!” he greeted warmly. “How are you today?”

As he approached, Kurt felt his face turn stupid and his knees weak, but he could do nothing.

“Hi,” he said, feeling awkward.

“Hi!” answered Blaine. “Ready for the next great adventure?”

Kurt laughed.

“Come on, we’re not dying, Dumbledore.”

Then he shut up, embarrassed, but Blaine only giggled.

“I was just saying. But the question stands, ready?”

“Yeah,” he said, short of breath.

“Then come,” said Blaine, taking him by the hand for the first time. “I’ll lead the way.”

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

Next thing he knew, Blaine’s PA, Susan, was giving him a private tour, of which he could say nothing to anybody, not even to Rachel, under the non-disclosure clause of the contract they’d signed earlier that day.

And he was _dying_ to tell Rachel (his full-time roomie and part-time partner in this LA adventure). As a _Dalton_ fan, this was a dream come true. And it wasn’t fair that he couldn’t share. (Honestly, he could have told Rachel _some_ things, as he’d told his dad. But his dad did not have a mouth the size of Texas on him, so there was that.)

“…and this is the recording studio and outside there is a private coffee shop. You might need to come here for some photos for Blaine’s personal twitter. Or perhaps for some other member of the cast’s. We’ll schedule your visits in due time.”

_A freaking recording studio, Rachel_ , he screamed internally.

“Well, that’s it for the set. We’ll now move on to Blaine’s private quarters.”

_Private quarters, Rachel._

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

“That’s the laundry service where his clothes are taken,” she said, pointing to the left.

Kurt felt like a tourist on a tour, refraining from taking pictures of every single thing just because he was trying to be professional.

“That’s his favorite restaurant,” more pointing.

“Is it?” Kurt asked, really interested, almost plastering his nose to the car’s window.

“It must be,” she said. “We have an arrangement with the owner”.

Kurt wondered how many things were real in Blaine’s life. He was willing to disentangle them from the lies and the posturing so he could really get to know him. It was only fair. Kurt planned to be as honest as possible, so his character was believable.

“And here we are,” he was told. “Blaine’s apartment. Fifth floor. Always greet the guard and go straight to the elevator. Never use the stairs.”

“Even if I want to exercise a bit? Is that in the contract?” he said, trying to joke.

Susan stared right at him, not a hint of amusement in her face.

“Never mind,” he whispered, deflated.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

Kurt fit into Blaine’s life amazingly well. As if everything was planned. He snorted. Oh, well, everything was planned by Blaine’s team, but a guy could dream. They didn’t make a press announcement because they were supposed to play it “private” for a while. However, they appeared at restaurants and movie theaters hand in hand, so as to be “seen.”

At the beginning, Kurt didn’t actually see the paparazzi—they were either few or far away. So, for him, this was what actual dating could feel like. They seemed to be alone, Blaine was a gentleman, and they had fun together. Kurt didn’t have much dating experience (being from Farfaraway, Ohio, where the only other gay kid bullied him all through high school), but this was rather nice.

One evening, they were leaving a cozy restaurant after a lovely dinner. Kurt was flushing, and Blaine was looking at him as he talked a mile a minute about colors and fashion, of all things. He should have felt embarrassed or like a nerd, but Blaine always looked at him with a charming smile.

This time, however, his smile froze suddenly.

“What?” asked Kurt, alarmed.

“Nothing to worry,” answered Blaine, frozen smile in place. “Just that there are some paps behind you, but they won’t approach us, I’m sure.”

This was Kurt’s only first-hand experience with these people, so of course he worried.

“Should I do something? Should I _not_ do something?” he mentally reviewed the contract, desperately looking for answers.

“It’s OK,” said Blaine. “I’m with you.”

Then leaned towards him and put his arm around Kurt’s shoulder.

“It’s OK,” he repeated, and he hugged Kurt, who clung to him. 

The paparazzi could have taken photos, video and live interviews from witnesses, for all Kurt cared. He only had a mind for Blaine, standing on the restaurant stairs, one step above him, hugging him and smelling delicious.

_Best. Job. Ever_ thought Kurt. He sighed.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

He was sitting in a comfy chair, on his first day on set as Blaine’s official boyfriend. He was there to take some pictures to upload them to his twitter. Not _his_ twitter, which had been deleted, but the one that had been created for Kurt Hummel, Blaine’s boyfriend.

He liked to think that he was also there to offer some moral support for Blaine, but the guy didn’t seem to need much. He greeted him happily enough, but after that he ignored him in favor of the rehearsals for a scene he was shooting.

“OK, we’re ready,” shouted the director. “This time with music, first take. Let’s go!”

Kurt’s attention remained on Blaine—up until the moment the music roared and the other Dalton Warblers started lip-synching and dancing. Blaine was not the main attraction in this number, which was weird for the series, so Kurt fixed his eyes on the ensemble instead.

_Ohhh_

_Ohhhhh_

Darren, the character, walked to the door and peered in. 

_Uptown girl_

_She’s been living in her white-bread world_

_As long as anyone with hot blood can_

Oh, it was Curt Mega singing! They never let his namesake’s character sing a solo! Kurt jumped up in his chair, excited to see the first time it happened in the series. He looked for information in his head and remembered the actor’s name was Nick. And he was doing great!

_And now she’s looking for a downtown man_

_That’s what I am_

Then Kurt tensed. He didn’t like what he saw.

Blaine’s co-star was actor Sebastian Smyhte, who interpreted Grant, the bad boy to Darren’s good boy. They had spent the first season fighting each other and now they were almost friends. But the way Smythe was looking at Blaine was not friendly. Kurt frowned and felt a tinge of jealousy he knew he shouldn’t feel. This was nothing but fiction.

_You mean just like your relationship with Blaine?_ said his own voice.

Damn it.

_You’ll see I’m not so tough_

_Just because I’m in love_

_With an uptown girl…_

What was wrong with Smythe?! He was looking at Blaine as if he wanted him for dinner. Kurt gripped the arms of his chair.

By the time the number finished, it was obvious—they were making Smythe’s character have a romantic interest in Blaine’s. And the actor seemed a little bit _too much_ into it, judging by the way his eyes undressed his co-star.

Kurt was fuming, and though he wanted to believe it was because the fictional ship did not appeal to him, he knew the truth. He didn’t want Smythe anywhere near Blaine.

“Five minutes,” shouted the director.

Blaine practically jumped towards Kurt and took his bottle of water from him.

“How are you liking it? Are you getting bored? You can go anywhere, you don’t have to—”

“I’m alright,” said Kurt, a little tensely, which provoked Blaine’s next question.

“Are you sure?”

“I’m positive,” said Kurt, faking a smile and glancing surreptitiously towards the actor he decided he hated as of now.

Said actor was listening to the director, but his eyes were creepily fixed on Kurt. Kurt decided to avoid Smythe’s gaze and focus on Blaine.

“Do you need me to bring you anything?”

“You’re so nice, Kurt,” was all Blaine said before the director disengaged Smythe. 

Blaine finally noticed that Kurt’s eyes kept going to Sebastian. So he cleared his throat.

“That’s Sebastian Smythe,” he whispered for Kurt’s ears only. “He’s bad news,” he added. “Everyone here knows he’s going for the bad boy, play boy, or whatever persona. I wouldn’t get too close to him.”

Kurt nodded enthusiastically, accepting Blaine’s explanation as he’d accepted all of them before.

“OK, everyone, go back to your places, let’s do this again.”

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

Blaine was waiting for him at the cafeteria while his PA instructed Kurt on how to “tweet” so that it was good publicity without spoilers. They were testing him. If he didn’t deliver, he’d have to submit his passwords to a so-called “social media handler,” who would be in charge of his online persona. Meanwhile, they wanted him to “be authentic,” and he was trying his best. He shuddered to think of his dad reading some random person’s posts.

“No, not that photo, the other one was better. It will make them wonder why he’s not wearing the Dalton uniform. Shows his watch, too.”

“OK,” said Kurt, trying to learn as much as he could out of what seemed utter nonsense.

“Yes, that message is correct. Your spelling is good.”

“Thank you?”

“Put some kisses at the end.”

By the time he was free and went looking for Blaine, he found him sitting at a table. The chair in front of him was occupied by a man in a Warbler uniform. Kurt just _knew_ who he was, even from afar.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

“He’s really great,” Blaine was saying, with his usual soft, enthusiastic tone.

“Who’s really great?” asked Kurt, trying to come across as nonchalant.

“Oh, you!” exclaimed Blaine. “We were just talking about you! Sebastian, this is Kurt. My—boyfriend, who I was just…”

Kurt didn’t like the hesitation, which reminded him that he wasn’t actually Blaine’s boyfriend. But he was here to play a role.

“Got it,” interrupted Sebastian, with the fakest smile of all times.

“Kurt, this is _Dalton_ ’s co-star, Sebastian Smythe.”

Sebastian opened his mouth as if to say something, but remained quiet. Then he swept Kurt’s body with eyes eerily similar to those he had used for Blaine on set. Kurt, for his part, tried not to snort, turned towards Sebastian and extended his hand, channeling all the coldness in his heart.

“Pleasure,” he spat.

Sebastian finally closed his mouth and said nothing, while shaking Kurt’s hand. What he did was kind of… chuckle? He chuckled! Kurt took back his hand, frowned, and sat beside Blaine. He grasped his arm while trying to remain civil.

“And what are we talking about, apart from me?” he asked.

“Ah, nothing interesting,” answered Blaine lightly, ignoring the tension. “Just the scenes we finished today and what we’re doing tomorrow.”

“And Grant’s unexpected sexual interest in Darren toward the season finale,” added Smythe gleefully.

Kurt tried not to grimace, but he was sure he failed.

“Yes,” he said. “That was unexpected.”

After a long silence, which Blaine spent sipping his coffee, Sebastian spoke again.

“Hey, what are you guys doing Friday night?”

Blaine shrugged with disinterest. Kurt improvised.

“Oh, we’re just going to watch a movie at home.”

Sebastian raised an eyebrow and smirked.

“Just like an old married couple.”

Kurt refrained from kicking him below the table. What was _wrong_ with him? That was a perfectly nice and exciting date for a young couple in love and he had no _right_ to give his opinion.

“Anyway, as _sexy_ as that sounds, why don’t we shake things up and head up to Scandals?”

Kurt blinked.

“That’s an upscale gay bar,” whispered Blaine to his ear, as an explanation.

Apparently, the whisper was audible enough for Sebastian, as his smirk only got bigger.

“The last time I was there, I met the man of my dreams.”

Kurt felt a twinge in his stomach. Relief? Yeah. Relief Sebastian had a boyfriend and would keep his hands off of Blaine.

“How sweet,” he said conversationally. “Are you still together?”

Blaine looked the other way. Sebastian looked at him, then his eyes went back to Kurt.

“Sadly, no.”

Kurt was prepared to say how sorry he was, but Sebastian completed his statement.

“We broke about 20 minutes after we met.”

WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU, Kurt screamed in his head, his fingers practically digging into Blaine’s arm.

“Anyway, come on, guys, live a little!”

Blaine turned to Sebastian once again and gifted him with that beautiful and polite smile of his.

“We’d love to, Sebastian, and thank you for the offer, that’s very nice of you,” he started.

Kurt wanted to punch Sebastian in the face with the force of Blaine’s politeness.

“…but… that just isn’t our… kind of thing.”

Kurt looked at Sebastian’s ever-growing smirk and exploded.

“Let’s do it.”

Blaine abandoned all politeness and turned to him.

“What?!”

“Yeah, I mean, our thing is so new, we have a bunch of things to cross off our list…”

Blaine was looking at him as if he’d lost it. Kurt did kind of feel lost, to be honest, but he turned to Sebastian with all his self-assuredness and said:

“We’re in.”

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

“I’m sorry,” he whispered when Sebastian was finally called back by some make-up person and they were left alone.

He knew he had overstepped. All their dates (their “dates”) had been planned by Blaine’s PR team up to that moment. They were going step by step, introducing their relationship to the public. Kurt had no right to decide where to go. It was actually in the contract.

Blaine remained quiet and frowning, not looking at him, pretending to be reading something on his cellphone. After a while he looked up and smiled again.

“Don’t worry, Kurt. I’m sure it was time to show up at a place like that, and what better way than with a fellow cast member to keep us company?”

“Are you sure there’s no problem…?”

“None whatsoever,” he answered, sharply.

Kurt would have believed him, just as he had believed everything he had said since the day they met, but this time Blaine’s smile was just like the one he offered to the paparazzi.

Somewhere in the future, Kurt would point to this moment as the first time he felt something was off.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

Blaine called Friday night off last minute and Kurt didn’t hear of him at all over the weekend. By Sunday night he was fearing the worst—Blaine was going to break up with him, or rather, terminate the contract; he had realized what everyone said about Kurt was true. He was clingy, pushy, controlling, overbearing…

To sympathize with him, Rachel wore her pajamas all day too. She even kept —somewhat— quiet, sang only in the shower, and brought him tea.

“Thanks, Rachel.”

“He’ll call,” she said, full of hope.

And he did.

“Hi, Kurt,” said his soft voice over the phone.

“Hi!” he said, once again breathless.

“Sorry I couldn’t schedule anything for this weekend. See you at the studio next Thursday? You can wait in my trailer and watch something nice this time!”

“Of course! I’ll see you there,” said Kurt.

Rachel peeked from the kitchen, nervously, once he hung up. Kurt jumped in his place.

“I’ll see him on Thursday.”

Rachel smiled and ran to hug him.

“I _told_ you! Can I sing now? It’s been really stressful to try to keep quiet, you know? It feels like my voice is rotten.”

“You can sing all you want, Rachel,” he said, rolling his eyes.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

Kurt refused to wait in Blaine’s trailer, preferring to observe the action on a real TV set. So, this time, there was no extra chair for Kurt. The place was full of people, some dressed in Dalton uniforms, and some obviously part of the staff. Blaine was busy, so he wasn’t paying attention, and Kurt had chosen the worst day ever to wear his new Doc Martens for the first time. His feet were killing him and he felt too ashamed to ask for a chair when, technically, he had no right to be there, and only got to see these things because of Blaine’s kindness.

Kurt took a tablecloth that someone had abandoned all crumpled in a corner and extended it to set himself on the floor, stretching his legs to alleviate the soreness. He was just starting to relax, resigned to his role as Blaine’s silent shadow when he felt a presence beside him. He turned to see a pair of polished shoes and two long, long legs.

“Hi, Blaine’s boyfriend.”

Kurt tensed.

“Good morning,” he said politely, back in character, trying not to cause a scene.

“What are you doing down there, all abandoned?”

“I’m not abandoned,” he refuted, looking up. “I’m keeping Blaine company while he shoots.”

Sebastian snorted.

“Yeah, company.”

Kurt frowned.

“Is there anything you need from me?” he asked, sharply.

“I don’t know,” said Sebastian, wrinkling his nose in a gesture that would have been funny in other circumstances. “Is there anything I could need from you?”

Kurt sat straighter, and would have stood up and punched Sebastian in the face if his feet didn’t hurt so much.

“Why don’t you leave Blaine and me alone?”

Sebastian arched an eyebrow.

“I’ve spoken to you an overwhelming total of… twice. And one of those times, you said you’d come out with us and didn’t.”

“We were busy,” he dismissed.

“You mean _you_ were busy?”

“I mean _we_ were busy.”

Sebastian blinked twice and frowned at him in confusion.

“Well, Blaine _sure_ was busy at Scandals, but you weren’t there, so I’m assuming you were _busy_ somewhere else.”

Kurt gasped and then tried to contain his surprise. He didn’t know Blaine had been to Scandals without him. But he had to act like a boyfriend. _Think like a boyfriend. Say something. Not awkward. Now._

“I—don’t have to explain anything we do to you.”

Sebastian shook his head.

“You’re a really tough one,” was all he said, and then turned back and left him there, on the floor, feeling like an idiot.

For a second there, he’d thought Blaine actually liked him. He sighed. It turned out Blaine was also one of those people who made plans behind his back so that he wouldn’t show up and ruin everything. He breathed deeply. _Chin up,_ he said to himself. This might have an explanation. Sebastian might even be making everything up, for all he knew. He seemed evil like that. And, even if Blaine _did_ go to Scandals without him, Kurt had no right to feel let down. He was only a payed actor, after all.

“Mr. Kurt?” said a kind voice. There was somebody else in Sebastian’s place beside him, a young assistant.

“Yes?”

“They told me to bring you a chair, sir,” he said.

“Oh, thank god,” he said.

He could keep on feeling humiliated, but at least not on the floor.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

“You’re a media _sweetheart,_ ” said Santana for her weekly report.

“And that’s a good thing, right?”

“In what world is _sweetheart_ a bad thing, penguin? Chill, for god’s sake. They’re eating it up. They love you, they want more of you, you’re getting followers by the hundreds, soon by the thousands. Once again, I’m proving how awesome I am.”

Kurt chuckled. “Everyone loves _me_ and that proves that _you_ are awesome?”

“It does,” she confirmed.

“OK, then… so, we go on as planned? We’ll keep going out and then meeting some very special fans who’re also paid actors, and then we might even go to some red carpet, right?”

Santana laughed. “Stop fishing. Anderson’s monthly schedule is still on the works. As soon as I know how many famous people you’re meeting, I’ll let you know.”

He grinned and said, “Thanks.”.

“Oh, look at this. I was checking your twitter feed and some dude from a not-so-shitty mag wants an interview. Sweet.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Wow! That’d be a great chance for someone to see me. Can I—Am I—I’m allowed to give interviews as long as I don’t go off script, right? Your hot-shot lawyers said so.”

“Yeah, yeah, you are. Anderson has to approve it, though. But this is really low-key. I don’t see why he’d say no.”

Kurt covered his mouth with his hands to avoid screaming.

“I can’t believe this is really happening.”

“Sorry? I think I’m losing you, I can’t hear you.”

Kurt rolled his eyes.

“Yes, Santana. You’re awesome.”

“I know, pancake.”

This was it, thought Kurt once he hung up. Everything was finally going to work out for him.


	2. And the whole world has to answer right now (Who's bad?)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter: 
> 
> Blaine being Blaine
> 
> Jokes about Blaine's height (I'm sorry, they won't stop coming)
> 
> Kurt and Sebatian slamming each other
> 
> People on twitter being people on twitter

Or maybe nothing was going to work out for Kurt.

When Blaine’s team heard about the possible interview, Kurt received a resounding _no_ from them. Santana (who was not used to hear the word _no_ if it wasn’t followed by _please, don’t hurt me_ ) was fuming.

“I can’t believe this asshole thinks he can stop us from getting you some promo. After all, we’re in this for the promo, not because of his astonishingly short legs or nonexistent personality.”

Kurt just snorted and shook his head.

“It’s in the contract, isn’t it? They have to approve the interviews I give and they get to decide when I give them. I just… I didn’t think his team could just… not let me give an interview at all. It doesn’t matter, really, I’m still preparing those auditions, so even if they never let me—”

“They can’t do that,” she said firmly. “I won’t let them get away with it. As far as I’m concerned, I’m catapulting you to stardom. And I won’t be stopped till you smash your face on it.”

Kurt gulped, a little intimidated by Santana’s visual imagery. Then he shrugged it off, as it was wise to do when it came to Santana.

“I could always speak to Blaine. Maybe he can convince them to let me do it…”

Santana looked at him funny and snickered.

“What?”

“You think he doesn’t know?”

“Well, I’m in my right to assume he doesn’t. He’s been perfectly nice and gentlemanly. I don’t see why he’d be okay with them treating me like this.”

Santana was silent for a second. Probably still laughing at him on the inside.

“You know what. We’ll do it your way, Gulliver. Talk to him and convince him to let you start making a name for yourself. Maybe your innocent porcelain-doll face will do it.”

“Thanks, I guess,” he said. “Wait, Gulliver?”

Rachael opened the apartment’s door right at that moment.

“Hello! What’s for dinner? I’m starving!”

Santana just mimicked zipping her mouth and raised her hands, giving up.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

Blaine took his hand, looked at him with his big brown eyes and shook his head in the saddest gesture Kurt had ever seen outside TV.

“I’m afraid I can’t do anything about that interview, Kurt.”

“I’m sure you could…”

“There’s nothing I can do,” he said, losing a little sadness from his face, now looking more serious.

“What if—?”

“I know this is important for you,” continued Blaine. “And I _assure_ you I’m taking it as seriously as you do.”

“Thanks—” started Kurt.

“But this is not the right time and that journalist is not the right fit. He's been known to talk some shitty things about me. We’ll find something together instead. Something that’s good for both of us. How does that sound?” he asked, with a barely-there smile.

Kurt couldn’t see anything wrong with his argument.

“I’m sure we’ll do,” he said, breathily.

Butterflies fluttered in his stomach at the thought of them being a “them” and doing things together, and saying “we” sentences for real.

“Just leave it to me,” said Blaine. Then he stood up, kissed him on the cheek, and left his trailer.

Kurt smiled at his back. He felt like Blaine had everything under control. He wouldn’t disappoint him, would he?

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

Some weeks later, Kurt was slightly miffed. He had not received news from Blaine’s team about his part of the deal. And Blaine was running out of beautiful phrases that could convince him that everything was fine.

He hadn’t pushed the issue with Santana, though. Because he might not be receiving as much media attention as he thought he would be, but he _was_ receiving Blaine’s attention. And it was kind of addictive.

After all, Kurt had spent his whole high school life either being completely ignored or receiving all the wrong kinds of attention. Blaine was a breeze of fresh air. Sometimes a hurricane of fresh air, depending on how much he smiled at Kurt and how many nice things he said.

“Hello, Kurt,” he said.

Kurt was in Blaine's apartment to pick him up for another arranged date.

“Hello,” said Kurt, breathless, like every single time Blaine glanced his way.

“Ready to go? I’m sure you’ll be fantastic today.”

Kurt smiled at him, and couldn’t resist anymore. He presented Blaine with a bunch of flowers that he’d hidden behind him.

“This is for you.”

Blaine’s smile actually changed into a pleased one.

“Kurt! You shouldn’t have. You’re such a gentleman.”

Kurt laughed it off.

“Not as much as _you_ are.”

Blaine took his hand and left a kiss there.

“I’ll ask the maid to put them in water. But go ahead and wait for me by the car, will you? I’ll be right there.”

“Sure, sure!”

“Oh, and Kurt.”

“Yeah?”

“Could you maybe get rid of the hippo brooch? It’s kind of creepy.”

Kurt nodded, turned and went to the car. He took off his brooch with a strange feeling in his stomach. He decided to focus on something else instead. Like the way he was going to bring up the topic of the interviews again.

During their meal, he managed to get a promise: Blaine was going to talk about him in his next interview.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

He was preparing breakfast a couple of weeks later when he received an email and a call from Santana, the latter just seconds after the first one.

“Hello?”

“Did you read what I sent?”

“You sent it… like three seconds ago?”

“That’s enough time to read if your brain is not the size of Blaine Anderson.”

Kurt rushed to open his inbox while still trying to make sense of Santana’s words.

“OK, let me go get my laptop.”

“Take your time, I’m charging you by the minute.”

There was no subject nor text, but there was an attachment. He opened it and started reading, but nothing made sense.

“What am I reading?”

“Jesus Christ, Hummel, who let you graduate high school with those reading skills?”

Kurt tried to calm down.

“I’m— Is this an interview? With Blaine?”

“Fantastic. You want your prize now or you wanna keep playing?”

“I don’t understand.”

“That’s Blaine’s promised interview. The one and only Interview About You.”

“It is?” he squawked and started scanning the whole thing as quickly as possible, looking for his name.

For some seconds, he fantasized about the content of the interview. It could be Blaine talking about his handsome new boyfriend, who was also a fantastic actor looking for a job, by the way. Or it could be Blaine showing how much he actually loved him, declaring his undying love for him in such a way that Kurt would just _understand_ that nothing was fake anymore…

But then he noticed that he’d kept scanning. And he couldn’t see his name anywhere.

“Uhm… where does he talk about me exactly?”

“Jesus Christ, you’re really slow. Fifth question: _Are you dating someone now? Yes, I have a boyfriend. I’m really thankful for him. He’s been a savior. He’s super supportive of my career and he’s always there for me when I need him_ ,” she read in a monotone.

Kurt was… he refused to say disappointed. But he also refused to believe _that_ was it.

“And then…?”

“And then there are like twenty paragraphs of him talking about himself. I don’t know. I didn’t actually read the whole thing. If I wanted someone to vocally masturbate in front of me, I’d ask Rachel about her day.”

Kurt felt a little hopeful. Perhaps Santana hadn’t read very well. Perhaps later on Blaine talked more about him. Perhaps—

“Well then, I’ll leave you to it. You have to approve the interview, as stated in the contract. Then we’ll send it back and that’ll be it. My personal advice? Don’t approve it. This is the biggest pile of literal bullshit I’ve seen since that time coach Sylvester got really nasty at us.”

“Y—yeah… No. I’ll—I’ll think about it.”

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

Kurt didn’t approve the interview right away. In fact, he took his time reading it thoroughly, looking for any hints Blaine might have given about him. But even after reading it for the fourth time, he found nothing. There was that one question, that one answer, and that was it.

He was still “thinking about it” (i.e. refusing to approve the interview, but not knowing how to bring it up with Blaine) by the time they had their next date. Appointment. Whatever it was.

This time there was a lunch party for all the cast and crew to celebrate that an episode had been wrapped up. Blaine guided him by the hand all the way from the parking lot to the cafeteria, which had been prepared for the event.

“Susan said you haven’t approved my last interview. Did you receive it?” asked Blaine, nice and calm.

“Yeah… no. I mean, yes. I received it. And I’m… I probably didn’t receive the final version, though? Because there isn’t actually much about me in there?”

Blaine stopped for a second and looked at him earnestly.

“I didn’t think it was appropriate to talk too much about you, you know? I think the best strategy is to go little by little, letting them _really_ get to know you. Just like I’ve been doing. We don’t want to be too… in their faces, you know? I’m a private person. My fans don’t like those kinds of things. They’re really fierce and protective. If we go too fast, they might not like you.”

“They might not?” asked Kurt, really alarmed. “Is there something I should do?”

Blaine smiled.

“Kurt, I chose you among many others because you’re my kindred soul. You’re sweet, innocent, and kind. You're never going to be a tacky sex symbol or anything like that. And I really think that if we take our time and do this well, amazing things can happen for both of us. Give me some time and they’ll love you.”

Kurt frowned. His stomach was revolting. He ended up nodding, not knowing what else to do.

Blaine nodded.

“I’ll tell Susan you said yes. Now… let’s go! We can’t miss the appetizers!”

After that, Blaine was his usual gracious self, all smiles and hugs. He lead Kurt to the cafeteria. He got a chair for him, got him to sit and offered to bring him anything he wanted.

“Just a cup of coffee, please. I’m so nervous I don’t think I can eat in front of all these people.”

“Oh, Kurt, don’t worry,” said Blaine. “But sure thing! I’ll be right back.”

Then he proceeded to leave him. Kurt looked at his retreating back and tried not to appear as awkward as he felt. He basically knew nobody there and he couldn’t just stand up and start forcing his greetings on everyone. He had to be proper and wait for Blaine to introduce him, didn’t he?

Some of the cast members had also invited their significant others. Kurt had to assume that at least some of them were _actual, for real_ significant others because they looked really happy and cozy and all over their boyfriends. He analyzed their behavior and wondered if he should copy some attitudes in order to be a more convincing love interest (fake significant other).

He looked around. Blaine was taking his sweet time, stopping by every other table to say hi to people.

“This is ridiculous,” he muttered. 

“You, mind reader,” said a voice Kurt had learned to recognize. He schooled his features to appear as disinterested as he wished he was.

“Mr. Smythe,” he said, trying to come across as polite but distant.

“ _Mr_.?” mocked the other. “What are we, British? You can call me Sebastian. Everyone here does.”

Kurt forced a smile. _I’m sure they do, but I don’t care for the contexts where that happens._

“Right, Sebastian.”

He sat right next to Kurt. The insufferable asshole. He was so close that Kurt could smell his shampoo. It smelled like apples.

“What’s ridiculous then?”

_You,_ thought Kurt. But he stopped himself.

“Listen, Sebastian. I’m sure we could have a delightful conversation, but Blaine will be back in a minute and I’d like to be alone with my boyfriend, if you don’t mind.”

“Your boyfriend is really _busy_ at the moment,” he said, pointing at Blaine.

Kurt looked to his right to find the boy in question taking selfies with some guys. He kept himself from frowning.

“I don’t know what you’re trying to imply, but I’m going to ask you to leave. Again.”

Sebastian smirked.

“Why? The way I see it, you’re all alone over there. And I’m all alone over here. We could have a nice little chat about something we have in common. What about Blaine? Nice little guy, nice little body, right?”

Kurt was done. To hell with this guy. He stopped pretending—his smile disappeared, his eyes turned cold.

“Look, Sebastian. I don’t like you. I don’t like the way you talk to me or to my boyfriend. I don’t like your smirky little meerkat face. I don’t like your obnoxious CW hair. I’m onto you.”

Sebastian's face brightened and he straightened his back.

“Let’s get a few things straight. Blaine’s too good for you, your relationship looks like a joke and one of us has a hard-luck case of the gay face, and it ain’t me. Odds are, by the end of this season, I’ll have Blaine and an Emmy, and you’ll be wearing black pants and a white shirt while you help cater one of these events.”

Kurt froze. He could bear a lot of things, but not this level of rudeness. He looked up and saw Blaine, who was suddenly coming back with two coffee cups. He took advantage of the last seconds he had alone with Sebastian.

“You smell like Craigslist.”

Sebastian’s jaw went down, but he couldn’t reply.

“What are we talking about?” asked Blaine, leaving a cup by Kurt’s hands.

“The catering service today, isn’t it amazing?” asked Sebastian, his eyes fixed on Kurt.

“It is!” confirmed Blaine excitedly. “All the servers have been saying hi. I’ll stop by to give them some autographs when all this is over.”

Sebastian snickered at Kurt, who was internally fuming and externally as Zen as he was capable of.

“You’re so nice and humble,” he said to Blaine instead. “Unlike most celebrities, who are just bitchy divas who are always getting their noses in other people’s business,” he added, looking pointedly at Sebastian.

The smirk stayed on Sebastian’s face, even though he didn’t fire back in front of Blaine.

On top of everything, the stupid meerkat didn’t leave the table for the rest of the lunch. And he didn’t stop making offhand comments about Blaine’s hair, eyes, and body.

When Blaine finally left to sign autographs, Sebastian stayed.

“Can you stop flirting with my boyfriend when I’m right here?” demanded Kurt, fuming.

This was not about whether his relationship with Blaine was real or not. It was the principle of the thing. It was about Sebastian not having any respect whatsoever for him.

Sebastian just glanced at him, unimpressed.

“I don’t know, can you wear boy clothes when you come visit us?”

Kurt pictured what he was wearing and tried to ignore the heat in his cheeks, remembering all the times his clothes had been mocked in high school. He was proud of his outfit. He wasn’t giving in.

“You’re an asshole,” he cried. “I’m sure you’re one of those guys who are always after a married or committed man. You give the entire gay community a bad name.”

“And you give the gay community cutting edge fashion usually only seen on RuPaul's Drag Race,” he said, without missing a beat. 

Kurt snapped.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t hear you. I was distracted by your giant horse teeth.”

Sebastian glared and opened his mouth. But then Blaine came back, followed by some stragglers that still wanted an autograph, and that was that.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

He should have known Sebastian was trouble. Real trouble. Sue Sylvester trouble, not Rachel Berry trouble.

He was having his usual nightly moisturizing routine when his phone started buzzing. First there was a message notification, which he ignored. Then there was another. He vaguely wondered if there was Glee Club drama going on or something. Perhaps Mercedes had hot news for him. After a while, his phone became so distracting that he got worried, thinking maybe something had happened to his dad. He finally washed his hands and unblocked it.

_100+ notifications._

“You must be kidding me.”

They were twitter notifications. He opened the app and tried to understand what was happening, but as soon as he tried to read a message he lost it in a sea of other upcoming messages. Dozens of people were tweeting at him, sending direct messages, replying to other tweets about him or retweeting them. He began to panic a little, so he decided to leave the phone on his night table, as if it was a loaded weapon. And yell.

“Rachel!!”

The girl came running.

“Is it a steam-related emergency again?” she asked, at the ready.

“Not this time,” he said. “Can I use your phone for a sec?”

“I deleted Brody’s nudes the second he walked out the door,” she replied.

Kurt blinked.

She blinked.

“What?”

“What?” she asked, perplexed.

“Never mind. I don’t want to see your pictures, I just want to check on twitter really quickly.”

She seemed hesitant.

“I… don’t have a twitter account.”

“Rachel, I know you have a Barbara Streisand impersonator account and that you exclusively tweet about her and, for some reason I can’t fathom, about Harry Styles.”

She seemed a little embarrassed, but this time acquiesced and gave him her phone.

“He’s really tall,” she mumbled.

Kurt ignored her. He went straight on twitter and looked up his own name. It was easier to keep his cool now that the phone in his hands was not buzzing like crazy.

The most recent tweets were people talking about him. There was one really awful message he ignored, but the rest of them were people saying he “looked like a really sweet innocent baby,” and “if he makes Blaine happy, I’m happy,” and “ffs! look at his face this guy is a gay saint leave him alone you weirdos.”

He scrolled a little, and he finally found the source of all this online commotion.

“Oh, no.”

There, in all his social media glory, was Sebastian Smythe, replying to a fan.

**Dalton_Girrrl3:**

have y’all seen blaine’s new boyfriend? @sebastian_smythe must feel really threatened by the competition lol

**Sebastian_Smythe replied to Dalton_Girrrl3:**

LMFAO, yeah, I’ve seen him and I’m just not feeling the competition vibes, honey [painting nails]

Kurt froze for a second and wondered how big of a mess this was.

Then he saw another message and figured it was a biggish mess.

**sweetblainexd:**

@sebastian_smythe kurts twice the man your asshole

**Sebastian_Smythe:**

RT ‘cause I love your grammar. Also, I think you mean he’s twice the man Blaine is? lol

"Oh, well," he said out loud. "This sucks." 

"Can I have my phone back?" asked Rachel. 


	3. You’ve been hit by, you’ve been struck by… (A smooth criminal)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This the enemies-to-friends part.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter:
> 
> Santana being Santana. 
> 
> Kurt forming his own opinions about people and taking the higher ground. 
> 
> Sebastian's 'dark' side. 
> 
> Enemies-to-friends starting... now.

Santana ambushed Sebastian as he was leaving the studio and heading to the parking lot.

“Come here, Andrew McCarthy.”

“Who the hell are you?”

She took him by the arm and firmly directed him to an office inside the building, where she promptly locked the door.

“Sit.”

Sebastian rolled his eyes.

“I said sit.”

He stayed up, stubbornly, so she stayed up too. She was shorter than him, but she was wearing killer Prada high heels and her figure was also much more imposing.

“Don’t know if you heard, but we’re having lots of problems putting out this online feud you seem to have triggered with your obnoxious tweets.”

Sebastian’s eyebrows went up.

“Oh, so this is about Blaine. I’m sure your precious little baby will survive.”

Santana let her eyelids drop, thinking on her feet. This wasn’t about Blaine, of course, but about Kurt’s blossoming public image. She decided to let him think it was about the hobbit, though, and see where that went.

“Well, sure, if you didn’t show your face for the next few years everything would be dandy. Sadly, we can’t have that just before promo season, can we?”

He shrugged, not getting the point.

“Bummer about Blaine’s little problems, he’s pretty. But I did nothing wrong. If anything, those tweets were meant to piss Kurt off.”

She glared.

“Listen, you may look like the villain out of a cheesy '80s high school movie, but you should know that I am fully prepared to go all Danny LaRusso on your ass. Admit you have ulterior motives with your ‘funny’ tweets and passive-aggressive attitude.”

Sebastian finally smirked at her.

“I’m trying to sabotage Blaine’s Emmy nomination,” he said cheerfully.

She walked toward him, standing as close as possible to his face, and stared him down.

“You’re a liar.”

He put his hand over his heart, dramatically.

“You’re questioning my honor,” he said mockingly.

“Oh, sweet child, right now I’m questioning everything about you except your sexuality,” she replied.

He laughed.

“Tell me,” she said.

He looked at her with disdain.

“Why should I?”

“Because I’m Santana Lopez.”

Recognition dawned on his face.

“Tell me now,” she threatened “or once I find out, because I _will_ , I’ll put your face on the cover of every rag and trashy website along with your phone number, address, and every pitiful detail there is about you, from the size of your dick to the last time you wet your bed; and trust me, I won’t research for accuracy.”

He seemed to analyze her face carefully. He knew who Santana Lopez was. Everyone knew. She was as feared as sought after. She was callous, but gave results. She usually had it her way or paved her way.

Sebastian turned serious. He ended up taking a chance. 

“I’m in love with Blaine,” he said. “And he’s been stringing me along for two years. And now that he’s finally single, he shows up with a mail wife shipped straight from the fifties? I’m not having it,” he said. “And you can tell him I said that.”

Santana’s ringtone interrupted them.

_You’ve been hit by, you’ve been struck by… a smooth criminal._

Sebastian took advantage of the interruption and fled the scene.

He didn’t know Santana had let him go on purpose, as she had recorded exactly what she needed.

She smirked.

"Wanky."

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

Kurt played the recording once more and bit his finger. He stopped Sebastian in the middle of his confession.

“So you think he’s telling the truth? He's being mean to me because he's in love with Blaine and jealous? Do you trust his word?”

“I wouldn’t trust him sitting on a cactus, Hummel. That’s why I did my own research. I asked around. I pulled some strings. He’s telling the truth. The grapevine says he’s been after Anderson from the very beginning.”

“And Blaine…”

“Has been going out with him here and there, even when he was with Sam. But apparently, he was never serious about it.”

All that was really confusing for Kurt.

“But he was not… _with_ Sam, was he?”

Santana waved a hand in the air.

“Unclear. There was a one-year contract that was renewed for another year, but the lines got blurry. There’s plenty of video evidence that they had something together. And by video evidence I mean there’s an unreleased sex tape.”

Kurt’s eyes bulged.

“Oh my god.”

“ _That_ surprised you? Everyone has a sex tape nowadays, porcelain. You can measure a PR team’s efficiency by how well they hide it."

"Oh my god," he repeated, freaked out. 

"Come on, focus on the evil at hand. What do you want me to do with Andrew Garfield? Shall I slowly destroy his public image until he can’t even get a job sweeping floors or shall I just crush his soul right now and send him packing to his daddy’s house?”

Kurt breathed in deeply.

“We’ll do no such thing.”

“That’s what I thought, crushing… Wait, what?”

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

He talked with his dad that night, and it just cemented his decision.

He wanted to see Sebastian's head turning on a spit, sure, but he realized that you couldn’t go looking for payback every time someone wronged you. If he started going after all the haters, he would never have any time for his own career. So, he wasn’t going to punish Sebastian. He was going to teach him a lesson.

Besides, Sebastian might be a bitch, but if it was true that he was in love with Blaine and obviously hurting, Kurt could relate.

Many thoughts danced in Kurt’s head. One: he might also be a little in love with Blaine, just like many other people, apparently. Two: He understood the idea of Blaine stringing Sebastian along, if the whole interview fiasco was anything to go by. (Blaine had this way of saying what you wanted to hear and then doing absolutely nothing to prove his words’ worth.) Three: You catch more flies with honey. And he’d started giving Sebastian all vinegar and no honey from the moment they had met. Perhaps it was time to change strategies.

Perhaps he could deal with Sebastian once and for all and maybe even get an ally on the way.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

He got to a building where the interviews with the _Dalton_ cast were taking place for the day. He’d paid for an uber with his awesome fake-boyfriend salary, and it felt really nice, even if the traffic was terrible and the fare was atrocious.

This time, Blaine and the others were being interviewed about the first episode airing after the hiatus. Kurt went in with a happy gait. He was prepared to face Sebastian eventually, but apparently so was the rest of the cast and crew.

They were all standing around Sebastian, looking at him with the grimmest faces. One of them was Blaine. When Kurt got there, Blaine smiled at him, took his hand and pushed Kurt behind him, as if protecting him (all of him except his head, he guessed).

The producer of the show had been talking. He stopped to wait for Kurt, but then he continued.

“All I’m saying is that this is not the behavior we expect from an actor who’s part of this family, Sebastian. Consider this your final warning. You stop harassing your co-stars and their partners or I’ll have to let you go. Are we clear?”

Sebastian, standing against the wall, nodded. He was avoiding everyone’s eyes. As soon as the circle dispersed, he fled.

“I’m sorry you had to see that,” said Blaine. “But he was refusing to listen. We had to corner him.”

“Uhm…” said Kurt.

He wanted to say that cornering a coworker and shaming him in public was not his idea of justice, but he bit his tongue. 

“Everyone read what he’s been saying about us,” said Blaine. “And they will stand for me. And for you, of course. He has no right to be so… nasty.”

Kurt nodded.

“I didn’t actually think his tweets were… nasty,” he dared say, now pitying Sebastian a little. “I read his other tweets and he’s always like that? A bit… bitchy? I mean, if you met Santan—”

“That’s not a personality trait, Kurt. That’s just rude. And he should respect me. Us,” said Blaine, firmly.

“Uhm…”

Kurt didn’t know how to tell Blaine that he’d been called worse things in way more serious ways when he was in high school. Even today, for god’s sake, he was still friends with the likes of Santana. Sebastian came across as a grumpy kitten compared to some of the people he’d faced (a particularly annoying kitten, but a kitten nonetheless).

“Hey, Kurt,” Blaine said, reaching to touch his shoulder. “It’s clear Sebastian doesn’t like you, so… it’s better if you just keep your distance?”

The second Blaine's hand was on him, the only thing Kurt could think about was _Oh my god, you have a sex tape._ He froze. Then he nodded.

“That’s a champion,” said Blaine, caressing his cheek. “I’m going to be busy over there. Are you going to be OK while you wait for me?”

“Yeah,” said Kurt, still thinking about the sex tape. “I’ll just be here, looking pretty.”

“You do that,” said Blaine with a grin.

Kurt shuddered. 

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

During a break, Blaine and the rest of the cast started goofing around and eating some snacks. Kurt smiled at them from a corner. At the beginning, he’d felt shy around them. Now it was just awkward—he’d known these people for months, but not really. Conversations with them didn’t go beyond greetings and small talk about the weather. It was really bringing him down. He’d lost all desire to get to know them.

He was about to try and approach Blaine, see if he could infiltrate a conversation smoothly, when he saw Sebastian once again fleeing the scene, taking a couple of sandwiches and a can of soda with him.

He glanced at Blaine, saw him distracted, and sprinted in pursue of Sebastian. He saw him opening an emergency door, so he went after him. He found Sebastian sitting on the emergency stairs. He was slouching, with his legs hanging and a half-wrapped sandwich in his hand.

Sebastian turned to look at the intruder. As he caught sight of Kurt, his face closed off.

“Whatever this is, is it going to take long?” he asked. “I can’t stand the stench of pitiful revenge.”

Kurt rolled his eyes and ignored him, sitting beside him.

“Of course you’d think that,” he snorted. “This is not revenge. I’m not looking for revenge at all.”

“So you’re surrendering?” he asked then, weary. “I didn’t think you’d give up that easily.”

“I’m just tired of the fighting and the mean spirited tweets,” he said. “We’re both young actors, and gay men, we should support each other.”

Sebastian snickered. 

“Yeah, life doesn’t work like that at all, Kurt.”

Kurt kept his chin up.

“Well, I’m taking the high road.”

“I have the feeling you’re not talking about marihuana.”

“Sebastian!” complained Kurt, struggling to stay serious.

“What brings you here, then, if not revenge? You hungry and decided to steal my food along with my—” he paused and bit his lip. “—other things?”

Kurt felt bad for him.

“No,” he explained calmly. “That’s not it. I’m here to talk. Adult gay man to adult gay man. In a civil way, like we should’ve done from the beginning.”

Sebastian’s face was incredulous.

“Yeah, sure.”

“I’m serious. Sebastian. I know you’re in love with Blaine, and I could just tweet about it for the world to see and laugh at your bad-boy-persona turning into a meme of teenage angst, but I’m not going to do so.”

Sebastian laughed.

“All of that would be slightly terrifying if you had any proof of what you’re saying. But you don’t, so stop it.”

Kurt sighed.

“Santana Lopez is my manager and friend,” he explained, and felt Sebastian’s whole body tense. “She recorded you, and for some reason I can't even comprehend, she used a device no one has used since 1999 taped to her underboob. So, here,” he said, giving the tape to Sebastian, who dropped the sandwich to take it. “This is my peace offering. You can rest assured it’s the only copy. I know I haven’t been all that nice to you since we met, but—”

“You’ve been a bitch to me,” he hissed, clutching the tape in his hand.

He looked pale and scared, and Kurt felt awful.

“I know,” he said, a little ashamed. “But you’ve given as good as you got.”

Sebastian was shaking, still clutching the tape as if his whole life depended on it. Kurt supposed that, in a sense, it did.

“Uhm… so, then… truce? I won’t tell anyone about this and you won’t become Regina George every time you see my name?”

“And I’ll let you and Blaine be happy,” added Sebastian, grimly. “Is that it?”

“Oh.”

For a second, Kurt had forgotten about that.

“Oh,” he repeated. “Yeah, yes. That too.”

Sebastian looked like he was going to puke. After some long, long seconds, he extended his hand.

“OK,” he sighed. “Truce.”

Kurt smiled kindly and shook his hand.

Sebastian offered him the sandwich that was still wrapped. Kurt accepted to eat, as he didn’t want to be rude. They stayed there for some minutes, in silence. When they went back inside, Kurt felt funny. He’d left the room feeling that everyone there was in a different dimension, far away from him. Now that he was back, he didn’t feel any more included, but he had the clear impression that Sebastian was more part of _his_ dimension than he was part of Blaine’s army of Warblers.

Having (reluctant) company in this crazy showbiz world felt nice, for a change. 

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

After his morning exercise routine, Kurt opened twitter on a mission. Some days had passed since he'd faced Sebastian, and he'd made a decision. He looked for Sebastian's twitter profile, ready to follow him and send him a message. He discovered that his fake-boyfriend account was already following him, as well as the rest of the _Dalton_ cast.

Well, that made everything simple. He sent a DM. 

_Hello. This is Kurt. Is this Sebastian or just his online handler?_

He was surprised to receive, almost immediately, a rolling-eyes emoji. Then a simple text.

**It’s me, but I don’t often check my DMs. A lot of people send me dumb messages.**

_Oh_ , replied Kurt, not knowing what else to say. He was hoping he could have a conversation with Sebastian, but he was damned if he was going to be the one asking for his phone number.

Sebastian surprised him.

**This is my personal account: @wwryoung28. I’m trusting you not to send that to everyone and make my life hell.**

_Thanks for the vote of confidence._

**Yeah, lately I’m trusting you with all my secrets, what’s one more**

When Kurt went to Sebastian’s personal twitter profile, he felt a little disappointed. It was full of retweets and basically zero tweets from Sebastian himself. It was all cute dogs, dance routines, and strangely, One Direction.

He spent some minutes not knowing how to start a conversation.

Then he decided to log into his secret account, the one he used to shake off anything Blaine-related, and sent a message to wwryoung28:

**greateststar1:**

_So, you’re a directioner?_

Sebastian took his sweet time to reply.

**wwryoung28:**

**DUH.**


	4. I'm glad (you came)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sebastian and Kurt grow closer. Blaine and Kurt grow distant.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a short chapter [insert joke here], because next chapter is longer. (I'm on it.)  
> Thanks for your kind comments :)  
> <3

Kurt looked straight ahead and started crying. As the tears came down his face, he said:

“I think you will marry. I think you’ll find someone and love them, and you will live and die for them because that’s your way, and you will... And I’ll watch—”

A squeal interrupted his monologue. He cleaned his tears and turned to see Rachel, watching him from her bedroom door.

“Rachel!” he complained.

She started clapping.

“That was beautiful.”

He smiled, a little embarrassed.

“Thank you. I’m preparing an audition. I have no hopes whatsoever, but I have to keep trying,” he said. “I can’t live off your parents’ wealth forever. Even if they’re solidary gays.”

Rachel just shrugged.

“You know it’s not a problem, Kurt. They had this apartment in LA, just wasting away. When I told them I was pursuing my Hollywood dreams with my best gay, they jumped at the chance to help. It’s nothing, really.”

“I know that, but still… I swear I’m doing everything I can to make it, Rachel. And once I make it, I’ll pay you guys back.”

“Or I could make it first,” she said. “And cancel your debt.”

Kurt smiled.

“Will you give me a job with you, though? Once you’re famous?” he asked. They always asked that question and replied the same.

“Of course I will! We’ll make it together. They won’t know what hit them. Anyway, I don’t think you’ll need my help now that you have a famous boyfriend,” she said with a wink. “Haven’t you asked Blaine for… a little help for you? Or you know, for your awesome friend? When am I meeting him, anyway?”

Kurt’s smile froze. He wished he could tell Rachel the truth, and then complain for days on end about the Blaine situation. But he had signed an NDA and she had a really big mouth.

“I wouldn’t want to abuse Blaine’s good will,” he muttered instead. “But I’m sure our luck will change.”

Rachel looked sad, but she didn’t insist.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

Kurt left the building where he'd auditioned feeling both hopeful and dejected, as he usually did. He thought he had done well, but then when he thought that, they never called back. He’d had a handful of callbacks during his almost two years as a squatter in Rachel’s apartment, but nothing had worked out in the end. Only as many “extra #430” and "No name but has one line" as a CV could carry.

_Hence the fake boyfriend thing,_ he thought. _And not even that is working well, is it._

His phone buzzed. He sighed and took it out, hoping that it wasn’t Blaine or his team asking for his presence. He just wanted to go home, cry a little, and keep on living.

It turned out to be a twitter DM notification.

**Good morning and thank you for another day of not sharing all the dark secrets in my non-gay closet!**

Kurt snorted. He leaned on a wall to type his reply. He and Sebastian had been exchanging messages for a few weeks. Without him noticing, they were now constantly talking about their days.

_You don’t have to thank me every single day, Sebastian. I thought by now it was pretty clear I’m not spilling. Also, it’s 2:00 p.m., how on earth is that a good morning for you?_

A minute later, he had a reply.

**I’m just waking up. I’m a night owl, I’m at my best at like 1 a.m.… Wait a minute, does this mean you’re one of those creepy morning people? That’s sick, Kurt Hummel. You’re sick.**

Despite the apparently insulting tone of the message, Kurt kept on smiling. He could just picture Sebastian, lying in bed all grumpy, with morning hair and sleepy eyes.

_Some of us have a healthy morning routine that helps us be productive for the rest of the day. Accept we are superior._

**Some of us spend some pretty awesome nights dancing our hearts out. Accept we’re superior.**

_Did you go dancing?_ He asked, genuinely curious.

**I did. What did you do?**

_Went to bed early. I had an audition today. It’s just over, actually._

**Cool. How was it? Tell me all about it while I take a shower.**

Kurt took his sweet time typing everything about the audition. It felt good, having someone to share those details with, someone who knew what all the fuzz was about. And who genuinely seemed to care without changing the topic to talk about their own auditions (ahem, Rachel).

For once in his life, Kurt didn’t regret his conciliating personality (a trait that made him a wimp, according to his high school classmates). At the end of the day, he was glad Sebastian had come into his life.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

Santana called him that night, when he was debating whether it was worth it to watch _Dalton_ or not. It used to cheer him up, but now it didn’t seem appealing at all.

He accepted the call.

“Hummel, I’ve got big news for you.”

“If it’s not about a Friends revival I don’t want to hear about it,” he said, exhausted.

“I don’t know what kind of hair product you sniffed today, but you’ll have to hear me out. _Dalton_ ’s production just signed a deal for a tour. Blaine Anderson and his Pigeons are travelling the country playing some gigs for what I assume will be a bunch of horny gay teens.”

_That actually sounds nice_ , thought Kurt. _I bet Sebastian is going to have the time of his life._

“Good for them,” he said instead. “But what does it have to do with me?”

“Right now, nothing. I’m just telling you that you might have some Blaine-free time after the season finale airs. Thought that’d make you happy.”

He sighed.

“It does sound good, to be honest. It’s been hard, his glacial pace.”

“It’s been douchy, it’s what it’s been. But I’m still pulling strings for you, Hummel. You’ll be the next Neil Patrick Harris in no time.”

“Thanks, Santana. Can I have a David Burtka too?”

“I’m in PR, not in match making. Go to yenta Rachel for that, loser.”

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

The following week was the most exciting week he’d had in years. First, he got a callback. They asked him to meet them on Friday. Then, he got a call from Santana: Blaine’s team had been in contact with her. They were finally, _finally_ going for THE interview. Blaine and him were sitting side by side to talk to a journalist about their undying love and Kurt’s underrated talent. Finally, he got a message from Sebastian: the _Dalton_ Warblers were invited to a red carpet, and they all could bring a plus one.

**I know Blaine’s taking you, but it’s awfully inconvenient. I’ll have to go alone. What will that do to my rep?**

_It’ll do wonders,_ replied Kurt. _People might even think you’re not a depraved human being._

**Hope not. I draw the line at people thinking I’m human.**

Kurt snorted.

Blaine had not mentioned a red carpet, but Kurt was sure it was going to come up the day of the interview. And if it didn’t come up, Kurt would push and push and push the issue until he got his invitation. He was not missing this.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

Blaine stood on his tippy toes to arrange Kurt’s tie. Kurt couldn’t wait for the second he’d have to go back to his usual height, so Kurt could _rearrange_ the damn tie.

“There, all ready now,” said Blaine, coming back down.

“Thanks,” he said, tensely.

“So, Kurt,” he said, in that slow, calming voice that nowadays made Kurt feel a little irritated, and not at all placated. “Remember what we practiced?”

_How could I forget. You only made me repeat the same thing a thousand times for an hour straight._

“Sure,” he said. “I won’t shut up about how wonderful you are, don’t worry.”

Blaine smiled bashfully.

“I’ll make sure to mention how talented you are too,” he said.

_I’ll bet my hat you won’t,_ thought Kurt.

Blaine’s phone buzzed and he got busy with it. Kurt turned for a second, rearranged his tie, and turned back with a smile. He shouldn’t have bothered. Blaine was engrossed in his conversation. Kurt rolled his eyes.

Perhaps he was feeling particularly vindictive, what with the whole hour he had spent learning an awful speech by heart. Or perhaps he was just missing Sebastian’s sense of humor (he'd make him laugh even in a situation like this). He ended up composing a new DM to him and did something he’d never done—he complained about Blaine.

_At an interview. I wanna bet Blaine will talk about me for about one minute and then he’ll just talk about himself._

As soon as he sent the message, he regretted it. He shouldn’t speak about Blaine like that, much less with Sebastian. What was he _thinking_?

He got a reply.

**Won’t bite. That’s rigged. Blaine doesn’t talk about anyone other than himself for more than 30 secs.**

Kurt smiled. They were just joking around, it was OK.

_Shame. I was ready to bet my hat. And it’s a nice beret._

**I regret nothing. I’m not a hat kind of guy. If you were to bet sexual favors, now then I’d be in.**

Kurt gasped out loud and blushed.

“Are you OK?” asked Blaine.

“I’m fine,” he shrieked.

Blaine glanced at Kurt’s phone with suspicion, but nothing else happened.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

The interview went surprisingly well. He was supposed to just “be there,” and then “out of nowhere” the interviewer would ask Blaine about him. And Blaine would call him, and he’d sit next to Blaine, and they would compliment each other.

And it actually happened like that. Blaine not only confirmed that Kurt was the most supportive boyfriend ever, always proud of his career and his achievements; he also mentioned that Kurt was also an actor and that he was auditioning for some roles.

“Perhaps soon we’ll see you on our screens too?” asked the interviewer.

“I certainly hope so!” he replied.

It was actually exciting, having his first interview was. Sort of his interview. Well, he was answering one or two questions, and that was something after all his time and effort.

The most important part, the one that Blaine had drilled into his head came next.

“Kurt, there are many crazy rumors about Blaine Anderson going around. What can you tell his fans about him? How is he in real life?”

Kurt smiled as tenderly as he was capable of. He turned to meet Blaine’s eyes, and recited:

“He’s the most selfless person I’ve ever met,” he said. “He’s kind, he’s humble, he’s loyal to a fault. He’s always trying to make the world a better place. He’s my kindred soul. What else can I say?”

Blaine’s eyes were shiny with tears. He leaned in and kissed his cheek. Kurt was just really focused on not breaking character to stop him.

“That’s beautiful,” said the interviewer.

“Thanks,” he said. “I worked hard on those words,” he added, because he just couldn’t keep it inside.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

After the interview, Blaine took him to his apartment, which was strange. Kurt had been to his place about three times total. 

“Sit here, I’ll call a maid. Shall I bring you a glass of wine?”

“Orange juice is OK,” said Kurt. “I’m sure it’s 5 p.m. somewhere, but not here.”

Blaine blinked.

“Yeah.”

He came back a while later, with a maid who put a glass of fresh orange juice in front of him and a glass of wine in front of Blaine. Kurt refused to comment.

“Kurt, I’ll be honest. I wanted you to come so that I could ask you something…”

Kurt’s heart accelerated.

“Yes! Yes I’ll go to the red carpet with you!”

Blaine paused.

“How did you know about the red carpet? I told my team not to tell Santana.”

“What?”

“I mean. My team hasn’t told Santana. But sure. I wanted to ask you about that. Among other things.”

Kurt nodded, uneasy.

“Well… I’m in for the red carpet.”

“Fantastic!” said Blaine, dragging the word. “I also wanted to ask you about the tour.”

“What about the tour?” asked Kurt, curious.

“I want you to be there on certain dates. Special cities, you know, where fans could approach us and talk to us.”

“Oh,” said Kurt. “I… guess that’s fine? Do you know what cities and dates?”

He had no previous commitments, sure, but he wanted to update his iCalendar.

“Yes,” said Blaine. “I have a list. I made sure to include Columbus! I thought we could head to your hometown. Lima, is it? We could take some picturesque photos!”

Kurt blanched.

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea. Believe me, there’s nothing ‘picturesque’ about Lima.”

“Nonsense,” dismissed Blaine. “What kind of committed boyfriend would I be if I didn’t go to visit your hometown and your family. I’m serious about this, you know?” he winked.

Kurt felt something inside him die a little. It all would sound perfectly nice… had Blaine been his real boyfriend. In their current situation, he didn’t know how he’d make his dad receive Blaine in his house without giving away the fact that he knew everything that had transpired between them from the very beginning.

Blaine took his silence as acceptance.

“I’ll tell Susan to send you the list of dates as soon as possible,” he said. “Aren’t you excited?! I’m so excited! We're going to be traveling together. It’s going to be awesome. Go team Klaine!” he said, raising his hand for a high five.

Kurt didn’t open his hand, so Blaine high fived his fist.


	5. Let me sneak you out (and have a celebration, the music up, the windows down)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The busiest day of Kurt's life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Possible trigger warning: Someone touches Sebastian inappropriately. He's very resilient. But we all get angry on his behalf. 
> 
> (If you don't want to read that part, I'll put a % sign at the beginning and at the end so you can skip it.) 
> 
> Also, Blaine keeps happening. 
> 
> For non-Glee songs, I'll link to a Youtube video, if you're curious :)

Kurt cried for real the morning of the red carpet. He had received the schedule for the indie movie he’d gotten a callback for. And he had received the schedule with the dates on which Blaine wanted him to come along for the tour. And they clashed spectacularly.

He’d talked to Santana, and she’d said those dates were non-negotiable. Blaine had a right to ask for Kurt’s presence. Kurt had a right to refuse to go in case of an emergency, but not in case of having a second job.

He’d written back to the people from the audition to tell them he wouldn't be able to make it. And then he’d lain in bed and sobbed.

At least the red carpet and the premiere were something to look forward to. He had actually sent everyone pictures of the suit he was wearing that night. He’d been liberal with make up so that his eyes didn’t look so blotchy. And he’d picked a nice bug brooch to keep him company.

He tried to cheer himself up. After all, every moment was an opportunity for fashion. But this was an _actual_ opportunity for fashion where everyone would be judged for their sartorial choices.

It was a dream come true.

This time it was Blaine who picked him up. If he noticed that Kurt had been crying, he didn’t mention it.

“You live in a… peculiar neighborhood,” he said.

Kurt shrugged.

“My neighbors are not in any gangs. I think that’s pretty great.”

Blaine stared at him in horror.

“You look really nice,” he said after a while.

“Thanks. It’s Alexander McQueen.”

His suit was also part of their arrangement. Blaine (or his team) had paid for it. Kurt had gone for a [breasted suit in powder blue with cherry blossom embroidery crossing over his chest](https://twitter.com/readytimmywear/status/1044447945091768320/photo/2).

“It looks…” Blaine paused. “Bold.”

Kurt was not discussing fashion choices with a man who was wearing a red suit with a yellow bowtie.

“Thanks,” he repeated, curtly.

_You’ll clash with the carpet,_ he thought.

They got into the car in silence.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

Kurt had (obviously) never been on this side of a red carpet. The lights, the colors, the screams—all of it was equal parts overwhelming and exhilarating. He wished he could record every second of it and remember it forever. Sadly, he had to make do with some sneaky pictures when no one was watching.

The first part of the walk consisted of fans who had been waiting for hours to see their idols. Judging by the signs they carried, a bunch of them were there to see the _Dalton_ cast, even if they were only guests. Blaine left Kurt hanging around while he went away and signed some autographs.

Kurt stood there awkwardly, thinking of approaching Blaine, feeling forgotten. But then he noticed a little commotion and turned to see Sebastian Smythe approaching a group of fans who were calling for him. He was wearing a sparkling blue suit and a classic white shirt that made him look radiant.

“Hey, girls,” he heard Sebastian say, cheekily. Then he saw him sign some autographs and kiss some cheeks.

%

He was persuading himself to stop staring when it happened. Sebastian approached a fan and she clutched his shirt, pulling him toward the barrier. He saw Sebastian wince and try to hold back, but then the girl climbed the barrier and clung to him. Sebastian struggled to step back. Security approached. Kurt couldn’t see clearly, couldn’t know for sure, but the girl did something and Sebastian ended up pushing her. Security got there and they hold everyone back while Sebastian retreated.

%

The actor basically ran past the rest of the fans without looking at anyone.

Kurt was about to go after him when someone unexpectedly appeared in front of him. 

“Hello, Kurt, right?”

Kurt turned to see a man he didn’t recognize at first. Then he pictured him as a blond and it clicked.

“Sam Evans?” he asked.

He nodded.

“Yes! Hi! I’m sorry if this is super awkward,” he said. “I just saw you here and I thought—I recognized you as Blaine’s new boyfriend. I just wanted to make sure you’re OK.”

Kurt frowned.

“I _am_ OK. Why wouldn’t I be?”

Sam’s eyes turned sad.

“I just thought I’d ask. Just in case. Listen, Kurt—If you ever, ever need something or someone, please call me.”

"Why? I don't, I—"

Sam extended his hand and gave Kurt a card with his information. It had been hastily written by hand. 

“I promise I won’t judge. I’m a great listener. And I _can_ help.”

“Thank you,” said Kurt, bewildered. 

"I'm serious," said Sam, firmly. "Blink twice and I'll help."

Kurt was suddenly very conscious of his blinking. 

“And one more thing. Never forget who you are. Please take care, Kurt," he added quickly.

Sam left his side so fast that Kurt didn’t get a chance to reply.

Blaine came back to him after that. So much had happened so fast that Kurt had forgotten he was there with Blaine.

“Was that Sam?” Blaine asked.

Kurt nodded.

“I hope you said hi for me!” he said, enthusiastic. “Sam’s a great guy. Just _a little crazy_ , you know?”

Kurt frowned. A thought crossed his mind—a future when Blaine would refer _to him_ as his crazy ex-boyfriend. And he didn’t like it one bit.

“Anyway, I’m ready. Let’s go have some pictures taken!” said Blaine cheerfully.

The next part of the red carpet consisted of interviews. He stood next to Blaine, smiling at everything he said. They also went to pose for some pictures. First Blaine, of course, with some of the other Warblers. Then, at some moment, a photographer called for Kurt and he went there, surprised but excited. Blaine was like a robot next to him, so Kurt didn’t dare to strike a Vogue pose. He enjoyed the moment as much as possible, though.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

He didn’t see Sam again. He didn’t see Sebastian either, until they were sitting in the auditorium. He looked pale, but composed. He wanted to go there and ask him if he was alright, but he was several seats away, and Blaine was already side-eyeing Kurt.

He sighed and sat next to Blaine, smiling at the small talk of a beautiful plus one blonde. He tried not to feel discouraged. He might not be sitting next to anyone famous, but at least he was there! Wearing his best clothes and his beautiful bug brooch!

They waited for a long time. Such a long time that the beautiful plus one stopped talking and was now on her phone while the Warblers joked around. Kurt had taken the opportunity to send a message to Sebastian, but he doubted the man had seen it, as he was now doing his waiting at the bar. Kurt longed to join him, but didn’t want Blaine to see him with Sebastian. It felt weird, and wrong, and it demanded energy and explanations that he couldn’t spare.

The waiting came to an end when the cast and crew from the movie entered the auditorium and everyone stood up and cheered. Kurt’s heart stopped when he saw some _actually famous actors_ over there. He could swear Emma Stone _winked at him_.

He managed to forget about Sebastian for a while. Although he did glance at him every now and then during the movie.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

When the movie finished, Kurt left his seat to go to the bathroom. He left in such a hurry that he forgot his cellphone on his seat and he spent several minutes waiting for his turn among a ton of people who at least had some distraction.

He returned to find Blaine with his phone and a familiar card in his hands.

“I found this,” he said, holding Sam’s card.

“Yeah, Sam Evans gave it to me,” explained Kurt, honestly.

Blaine frowned.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to contact my ex,” he said.

“Then I won’t?” said Kurt, baffled.

Blaine nodded. He proceeded to put the card in his own pocket.

“Also, your phone kept buzzing. You received some messages. I tried to see if they were urgent, but I couldn’t guess your password.”

Kurt just stood there, just staring at Blaine.

“OK,” was all he managed to say. 

“See?” he added, when his phone buzzed again. “They won’t stop texting you.” He was unnervingly serious.

“Can you give me back my phone?” he asked, as politely as possible.

“Who’s texting you, Kurt?” asked Blaine, bluntly. 

Kurt kept himself from replying that it was none of his business. He didn’t want to cause a scene.

“It’s probably nothing. Rachel, Mercedes, or one my other friends. Why do you sound so upset about this?”

“Are you keeping your part of the deal, Kurt?” asked Blaine, suddenly angry. “Because we’ve been going out and giving interviews and making your image off of mine,” he said.

That made Kurt's heart race. He looked around, but no one was close enough to hear and no one was paying attention. So, he replied. 

“Of course I’m keeping my part of the deal,” he whispered. “Do you think I’m ‘cheating’ on your or something? Just because of some messages?”

Blaine glared at him. Then he seemed to calm down.

“No, of course not. You’re right. I’m sorry.”

He sounded sincere, but Kurt didn’t know what to feel anymore.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

The Warblers were invited to the after party. Of course they were.

Blaine had not informed him of this. He got the news when Jeff came to him, hugged him, and said it was nice seeing him, too bad he had to go home so early. Perhaps he could come with them next time?

Kurt’s smile was so forced he was surprised he didn’t get facial cramps.

“Next time!” he said, as cheerfully as possible.

Blaine also hugged him and, without further explanations, left him in the parking lot. He supposed Blaine thought he could take an uber back home. He supposed he wasn’t such an asshole as to leave him hanging there. But he was so tired of supposing. He didn’t know what to feel anymore. He just wished he could keep wearing his awesome suit in nice places. But an Uber would do.

“Kurt?” said a familiar voice, with a shy note that was not familiar at all.

“Sebastian?”

The man approached him carefully. Kurt realized this was the first time they were seeing each other since the tape incident. Sebastian was probably testing the waters, checking if Kurt was friendly outside of twitter.

“I saw your messages,” he said. “And I tried to answer, but you didn’t reply.”

Kurt winced.

“Sorry about that, I lost my cellphone in there for a while. But hey!” he said, trying to calm Sebastian’s nerves. “How are you? How was your night? Did you enjoy the movie?”

Sebastian’s smile was barely there.

“Yeah… yeah. I enjoyed the free mojitos more than anything, but then I had time to get sober after those three hours sitting on my ass,” he said.

“Well, I’ve sat on my ass for three hours in worse places,” he said without thinking.

Sebastian burst into laughter, but then he covered his mouth with his hand and his face filled with alarm. Kurt took some seconds to get to the same places Sebastian’s dirty mind had visited, but he eventually did.

“Oh my god!” he cried.

“I’m sorry—”

“It’s OK,” he said, “you saw your chance and you took it.”

Sebastian seemed to relax after that. And Kurt, unconsciously, did too.

“Speaking of chances,” he said. “What are the chances that Blaine just abandoned you here, looking dashing and with no plans? I know perhaps you have something to do or you have to go to bed early because of an audition, but…”

“No, no,” said Kurt, struggling to come up with an excuse. “I just didn’t feel like partying, that’s all. It’s not… my kind of thing.”

“Oh,” said Sebastian. “So you don’t have any plans?”

“Nope,” said Kurt. “Why? Are you planning something, evil mastermind?”

Sebastian looked down for a second, but then he met his eyes.

“Yeah, in fact. I was planning to go for dinner, perhaps for a drink. You could come with me.”

“That sounds nice, but I wouldn’t want to crash your plans with your friends…”

Sebastian shook his head.

“I thought I’d go solo tonight. But now you’re here… and you look like you could be an OK companion.”

“I’m a _superb_ companion,” he replied, mockingly indignant.

And that’s how Kurt ended up having a late dinner at a fancy restaurant with a TV star.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

They headed to the restaurant. The way there was awkward at first. They called an Uber from Kurt’s cellphone.

While they waited, they didn't say much.

"You look good tonight," said Sebastian. 

"Thanks. You do too," replied Kurt.

He couldn't help but feel that the conversation was not very sincere. 

The car got there and they got in the back. When the driver asked what kind of music they preferred, they both said the music from the top 40 station playing was just fine. “Just Give Me a Reason,” by Pink was playing and Kurt started to hum along, just to do something. Sebastian stayed quiet, looking out the window, but he was tapping his fingers to the rhythm of the song.

The next song was Eminem’s _The Monster._ Sebastian stayed silent, but then he suddenly joined Rihanna’s part under his breath.

[[The Monster](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDXXi19_7iE)]

 **I'm friends with the monster that's under my bed  
** **Get along with the voices inside of my head  
** **You're tryin' to save me, stop holdin' your breath  
** **And you think I'm crazy, yeah, you think I'm crazy  
** **Well, that's nothin'**

Kurt tried not to call attention to the fact that Sebastian was singing. He had a nice voice, even when he was keeping it quiet. He looked at him from the corner of his eye.

The restaurant was far enough for another song to start. This time it was an old one. Kurt straightened his back. Sebastian was still looking out the window, but he also smiled openly. The first part passed quickly, and they only moved their bodies to the rhythm. When his favorite part came, Kurt couldn’t help but sing out loud.

[[Les rois du monde](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saxxJZCr2-k)]

_Les rois du monde font tout c'qu'ils veulent  
Ils ont du monde autour d'eux mais ils sont seuls  
Dans leurs châteaux là-haut, ils s'ennuient  
Pendant qu'en bas nous on danse toute la nuit_

_(The kings of the world do whatever they want to  
_ _They’ve got everyone around, but they’re alone  
_ _In their castles up there, they get bored  
_ _While below we dance all night long)_

Sebastian gaped at him while he sang. Then, to his surprise, he joined him for the chorus.

 _**Nous, on fait l'amour, on vit la vie, jour après jour, nuit après nuit  
À quoi ça sert d'être sur la terre si c'est pour faire nos vies à genoux?  
** _ _**On sait qu'le temps c'est comme le vent, de vivre, y a que ça d'important  
On s'fout pas mal de la morale, on sait bien qu'on fait pas d'mal** _

_**(We make love, we live our lives day after day, night after night  
** **What’s the use of being on earth if we live our lives on our knees?  
** **We know that time is like the wind and living is what matters,  
** **We don’t care much about morals, we know well we’re not doing anything wrong)**_

Kurt started waving his arms around, trying to dance with them in such a small space. Sebastian copied his dramatic gestures, mockingly. Kurt snorted. Sebastian kept singing the next lines, and Kurt let him go solo.

 **Les rois du monde ont peur de tout  
** **C'est qu'ils confondent les chiens et les loups  
** **Ils font des pièges ou ils tomberont un jour  
** **Ils se protègent de tout même de l'amour  
  
** **(The kings of the world are afraid of everything  
** **They can’t tell dogs from wolves  
** **They build traps where they will fall one day  
** **They protect themselves from everything, even from love)**

Kurt’s smile only kept getting bigger. He sang the next part.

 _Les rois du monde se battent entre eux_ _  
C'est qu'y a de la place, mais pour un pas pour deux  
Et nous en bas leur guerre on la fera pas   
On sait même pas pourquoi tout ça c'est des jeux de rois   
  
_ _(The kings of the world fight each other  
_ _As there is room for one, but not for two  
_ _And below, we won’t fight their wars  
_ _We don’t even know why, all of that is a game of kings)_

 _  
_They sang the chorus together, animatedly waving, shaking their heads and shimming in their seats. When the song finished, the awkwardness was completely gone. Sebastian was laughing out loud. Kurt felt his whole body tingling.

“ _Je ne savais pas que tu parlais français_ (I didn’t know you spoke French),” said Sebastian, excited.

“ _Je suis plain de surprises (I’m full of surprises_ ),” said Kurt, with a bold wink.

“Eh,” the driver said. “We’re here.”

“ _Merde_ , sorry!” said Sebastian, surprised, and got out of the car immediately.

“Thanks,” said Kurt. He got out after Sebastian and closed the door.

“Where did you learn to speak French?” asked Sebastian.

“School, duolingo, private tutors, and an unhealthy obsession with everything French including but not limited to Louis Garrel,” replied Kurt. “And you?”

“I studied high school in France. Mom was studying her PhD there. She’s part French, in fact. They thought it’d be good if I went with her. They wanted me to get to know such a big part of me. And I loved it! But I missed my dad. And we couldn’t just stay there after her PhD was over, so we came back. In fact that’s how I became an actor… I graduated and I had nothing to do. I’d taken some acting workshops back in France. A friend of mom’s told me to audition for _Dalton_ , and I did. And I’m here.”

That was the longest speech he’d heard Sebastian utter outside of twitter. It was also the first time he sounded really excited about something. It was awesome.

"That sounds fantastic!" he said. 

They looked at each other for a moment and chuckled when they realized they were still standing outside the restaurant. They went in.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

The restaurant was quiet. Only murmurs could be heard from the other tables. Kurt thought it had more to do with how private the tables were than with the people who were having dinner. When they had walked past them, they seemed to be having a good time.

As they looked at the menu and decided what to eat, Kurt got a little antsy. He confirmed his suspicions that this was one of those places that didn’t list their prices. But then Sebastian seemed to read his mind.

“Just to be clear, I invited you here,” he said. “So, I’m paying.”

“Bold of you to assume I’m letting you do that.”

“Bold of you to assume they’ll even ask. They have my credit card details. Every time I come here they just charge me,” he winked.

Kurt rolled his eyes.

“You’re a bit presumptuous, aren’t you?”

Sebastian rested his cheek on the palm of his hand and stared at him before replying.

“You got me all wrong,” he said. “I’m _extremely_ presumptuous.”

Kurt couldn’t help but giggle.

Then the food came, and the conversation flowed until Sebastian stopped eating and turned serious.

“Kurt, I—” started Sebastian, after some seconds of silence.

“Yeah?”

“I wanted to say something in person. I’ve… I was a bitch to you from the beginning. Can I be honest? Now you know the truth it’s so much easier to just say it upfront. I saw you with Blaine and I was… jealous. I’d been trying to get his attention for two years, and he’d been saying… he’d been saying all these things about how if he didn’t have a boyfriend he’d go for me… And he was _finally_ single,” he sighed. “I realize that he never really meant those things and now that I know you, I _get it,_ OK? I’d choose you over me anytime.”

Kurt gasped.

“Sebastian—”

“It’s fine. Just let me say this,” he continued. “I know it doesn’t really justify how mean I was to you, but you kind of started it? You were really vicious from the get go.”

Kurt nodded, embarrassed.

“I must confess I had a bad disposition toward you from the very beginning. And I’m sorry for that. I was quick to judge, and I shouldn’t have done that. I’m not usually so spiteful.”

Sebastian smiled just a little.

“I can see that. When the tape thing happened… I was on my toes for _weeks._ I didn’t believe for a second that there was only one copy. But then I… your tweets, and your messages… I guess what I’m saying is that I believe it now, that you are one of those sincerely good people.”

“Thanks,” said Kurt. “My father raised me well and I try to honor his values.”

Sebastian just stared at him. It made him a little nervous. Then he continued.

“I know it must be weird for you… the thing about my… _crush_ on your boyfriend. But I wanted to assure you that after that one time at Scandals two years ago, nothing has happened. I mean, I tried. I tried hard lately, but he’s been faithful to you. I mean, no. No, I have to say it. I feel like I have to tell you. He almost kissed me once, the last time we were at Scandals, but he was really drunk and I said no.”

“What.”

“I know you must think I’m a slut or something. And I know I joke about a lot of things and people don’t get my sense of humor, and I know I’ve joked about cheating but I’ve never… What I mean to say… I mean I don’t _know_ if he kissed other people because I left him there that night. But he seemed—” Sebastian was speaking really fast, as if working up to a frenzy.

“Hey, hey, calm down,” interrupted Kurt, trying to come up with something to say that wasn’t _What do you mean ‘that one time two years ago’?_ or _Don’t worry, Blaine wasn’t trying to cheat on me because we’re not actually dating_ or _Why did you say no if you have such a crush on him?_

Sebastian remained silent while Kurt looked for words. _Say something as close to the truth as possible,_ he reminded himself.

“You don’t have to worry about it at all. Blaine and I…” he started, trying to come up with something. “We have talked about it and we have… arrangements in place. You have nothing to worry about.”

Sebastian seemed stunned.

“You have an open relationship with him?”

Kurt chocked. But he’d said what he’d said, and he couldn’t think of any other explanation right away.

“Yeah,” he said in his highest pitch. “But I’d prefer not to talk about it. Wow, this wine is fantastic.”

Sebastian _obviously_ noticed the change of topic. But he didn’t push. He jumped from the wine topic to news about the tour, and then they talked about music and their mutual love for singing, and their childhood memories about it. In the middle of it all, he managed to sneakily reintroduce the topic, just to reassure Kurt that he wasn’t going to go for Blaine anymore.

“And I hope this is not an awkward topic for us anymore,” said he. “I appreciate your honesty with me. I want you to know that you can keep venting with me.”

Kurt hadn’t realized that he vented about Blaine. But now that Sebastian mentioned it. Boy, did he. 

“I appreciate it,” he said.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

“Sebastian, you don’t have to _take me all the way home,_ ” he fake-complained.

They were sitting in the back of a Lyft Sebastian had called with the last 10% of his phone battery. He’d dismissed all complaints about wasting his battery, saying he’d turn the airplane mode on. He had decided he was taking Kurt all the way to his apartment; only after that was he going home. And he wasn’t hearing otherwise.

They had spent so long in the restaurant that the staff was basically only waiting for them. Sebastian simply told them to charge him a 30% tip. Kurt's jaw went down. At the end of the day everyone was happy. Though Kurt was also mortified.

“I don’t _have_ to do it. I thought it was clear by now that I _want_ to do it. Kurt, you offend me when you think I’d do anything just because it was my obligation.”

Kurt shook his head.

“At least charge your phone. It’s like 40 minutes from my place to yours.”

“You can use the USB port over there,” intervened the driver.

Sebastian shrugged. Then he leaned in and looked at the driver from between the front seats.

“Excuse me, Al,” he said, clearly remembering the name in the app.

“Yes, sir?” he said.

“Are you planning on killing me, kidnapping me, or otherwise mauling me?”

The man got nervous.

“S-s-sir—no, why would you? I wouldn’t—”

“That’s what I thought. If you don’t mind, then, I’d prefer not to charge my phone. Because I don’t want to hear anything about the world right now, you know?” he said to their driver, but glancing back at Kurt. “I just want to keep living in this moment for a while, and then I want to keep remembering this moment for the next 40 minutes.”

Kurt’s heart felt suddenly too big to stay in his chest.

“Sebastian—”

“Hush,” said he. “I love this song. Did you know I sang it for the show?”

_Live While We Are Young_ by One Direction got them to Kurt’s apartment building.

Hey girl, I'm waitin' on ya, I'm waitin' on ya  
Come on and let me sneak you out  
And have a celebration, a celebration  
The music up, the windows down

Yeah, we'll be doing what we do  
Just pretending that we're cool and we know it, too  
Yeah, we'll keep doing what we do  
Just pretending that we're cool, so tonight

Let's go crazy, crazy, crazy 'til we see the sun  
I know we only met but let's pretend it's love  
And never, never, never stop for anyone  
Tonight let's get some and live while we're young

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Songs in this chapter:  
> The Monster - Eminem ft Rihanna (2013)  
> Les Rois du Monde - from Roméo and Juliette, de la Haine à l'Amour, the musical (2000)  
> Live While We Are Young - One Direction (2012)


	6. It’s the way I’m feeling (I just can’t deny)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kurt stands up for Sebastian. The tour begins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Possible Trigger Warning: There is a death threat. NOT to be taken seriously because it is made by the infamous... People on Twitter. It's followed by a discussion about inappropriate touching. Again, if it's something you don't want to read, there's a **%** so you can skip it :) The summary of it is: Kurt stands up for Sebastian.

When Kurt got home he took some seconds to come down. It had been the most eventful evening of his life and he, like Sebastian, wanted to keep remembering. Hopefully forever.

After some minutes, he decided to text Sebastian to check that he was alright on his way got home. He cursed himself when he realized that once again, he hadn’t gotten Sebastian’s number. He had to keep relying on twitter.

He opened the app and the first thing he saw made him startle. It was a message posted at the time of the premiere. And it wasn’t nice.

**blainesangel_:**

tl;dr I was next to the barrier @ the red carpet today and that asshole .@sebastian_smythe pushed me back and hurt me.

Immediately, images of the girl who had grabbed Sebastian that afternoon surfaced in his head and he seethed. He hadn’t asked Sebastian about it, not wanting to ruin a nice evening, but now he regretted it. If only he knew what had happened, he could say something.

**%**

But then he read the replies to that tweet.

**anitttaah_4:**

Did you say anything or wtf why did he attack you?

**blainesangel_:**

I didn’t do shit! he just came to me and pushed me. I was wearing my blaine shirt btw, bet that’s why. fucking asshole.

**le_b1tch:**

say the word and we find him and put him down

That last tweet had 2000 retweets and counting. 

Kurt gasped and couldn’t contain himself anymore.

**kurthummel:**

I was there at the red carpet today and saw what happened. It is not what some people are saying. Sebastian is not even here to defend himself. Please, if someone saw anything, say it. He does not deserve the hate he’s getting. It’s turning really scary.

He immediately tried to contact Sebastian, but the man didn’t reply. Kurt got so upset reading hate messages that a couple of tears actually fell on his screen. He was angry, wretched, and he couldn’t do anything. He kept reading tweets, looking for something.

**OnceaWarbler:**

ok, i’m not even a sebastian stan, but kurt’s right and this is bullshit. i was there too. that girl groped Sebastian and thats just not cool.

**blainesangel_:**

wtf proof? go fuck yourself

The message he was hoping for finally came.

**beebee__xo RT by kurthummel:**

Not even in this fandom (was there for my bb Emma) anyway this happened and I recorded it and I’m gonna drop it here so y’all shut up about this guy

[video link to youtube]

Kurt clicked on the video and saw the girl trying to climb over Sebastian and touching him everywhere. He heard Sebastian trying to calm her down and then the girl spitting at him, not very successfully, and then going for his groin. He saw Sebastian’s face change from fear to pain when he finally pushed her to get free. Security got there and controlled the girl. Sebastian turned and ran away. 

He didn’t stop refreshing the video tweet until it got to 2050 retweets. It helped a bit, feeling that at least there were more people who had seen the video than who had wished Sebastian dead.

**%**

He received an email to his personal account. It was a twitter notification from Sebastian. He rushed to open it.

**wwryoung28:**

Hey, can I get your phone #?

Kurt’s heart skipped a beat. He sent his number immediately. 

He received a call seconds later.

“Sebastian…?”

“Yup, that’s me. I was… I just… I saw you defending my honor online.”

“I suppose I did.”

“You didn’t have to do that. People talk bullshit about me all the time. Every time I log into twitter there's someone saying something about me. I’m used to it, really. It’s not a big deal.”

“Sebastian, it’s not right,” said Kurt, indignant. 

“It’s kind of OK. People think I’m my character all the time, you know? It’s part of the job. They see douchebag on the screen, they think douchebag to my face.”

“That doesn’t make it right.”

“I know. All I’m saying is… I’m used to it. I’m not upset or anything. I’d pretty much forgotten about it until I saw the tweets.”

“They’re giving you a bad reputation and attacking you at the same time,” rebutted Kurt. He was so angry his hands were shaking.

“It’s not that bad," continued Sebastian, trying to calm him down. "It’s even… liberating sometimes. When people expect the worst of me, nothing I do seems so bad, you know? I’m not like… blackmailing people with nudes or anything I do in the show. So in my head, I’m not so bad.”

“Sebastian!” cried Kurt. “You’re not only not so bad. You’re not bad _at all_. What you said to me? You apologized. When you thought Blaine had cheated on me? You told me! Just like a real friend should. And ever since the tape incident, I’ve been watching you. I haven’t seen a single instance where you’ve been an actually awful person. You’re just a sassy person. That’s different. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

Sebastian was silent for some seconds.

“Kurt?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks.”

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

He fell asleep on the phone with Sebastian, while he tried to calm down. He woke up with a headache to find an email from Susan.

Hello, Mr. Hummel:

We require your social media passwords ASAP. I am copying Chandler Kiehl, who will be in charge of anything we need posted there as of now. He will also be creating an Instagram account in your name, FYI.

Regards,

Susan C.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

Santana called him later that day.

“I saw your tweets defending Smythe. I know you made a deal with the devil, I just want to know if I need to go recover your soul from Smythe’s clutches,” said Santana.

Kurt laughed tiredly.

“The only devils I’ve made deals with are Blaine Anderson and his team,” he said. “They also saw my tweets and seized all my social media accounts. I’m in time out.”

“I know,” she said. “They warned me. I couldn’t say anything, chipmunk. It’s in the contract. And that was a _really_ stupid move.”

“They were threatening to kill him!” cried Kurt. “You know how I get with those things.”

Santana sighed.

“Look,” she said. “Brit’s having period cramps and I really don’t need more drama in my life right now. Do you want me to fight for those fake-ass social media accounts?”

“No,” he said. “I can live with it. I just hope they leave Sebastian alone.”

“If that’s what worries you, I can deal with it. Threats of legal action can do wonders against this kind of people.”

“Thanks.”

There was silence.

“OK, spill.”

“What?”  
  


“What happened with Smythe? Did you two have a hot make up session or something? Did he fuck you silly?”

“No!” cried Kurt. “Can’t I just be a decent person?”

“Not when you’ve bitched about him since you met him.”

Kurt sighed.

“I’ve just… I’ve been talking with him lately. And he’s proved to be a good person. He’s been nice to me now that the whole ‘in love with Blaine’ thing is out there. He’s been candid, even. We… I guess you have to know this. We had dinner after the premiere. And we had fun. He’s kind of mean but in a fun way? He actually reminds me of you…”

“OK, I’ll stop your stream of consciousness right there because there are _so_ many wrong things with what you just said.”

“I know I shouldn’t be friends with Sebastian because of the contract, but I really like him and…”

“Dude, that’s the least of my worries. The contract can’t stop you from being friends with anyone.”

“But Blaine said…”

“Anderson says a lot of stupid things, but he can’t stop you from talking to Smythe if that’s what you want. What worries me is that if you piss Anderson off, we’ll be fighting his team till the end just to get scraps of the deal. Fighting them _will_ be fun, mind you, but also hard work. You know I _hate_ hard work.”

“So what’s your expert advice?” asked Kurt, feeling more exhausted than ever.

“Keep sneaking off,” she said. “Don’t tell Blaine. Ask Smythe not to tell Blaine. Keep Blaine ignorant and happy. Slither into Smythe’s bed and make him your bitch.”

“Oh my god, Santana!”

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

“Did you get in trouble because of me?” asked Sebastian over the phone. He sounded a bit upset.

“Of course not! Why would you ask?”

“I saw some recent tweets in your official account,” he explained. “They don’t… sound like you.”

They were actually tweets about football, because apparently Blaine loved football and his boyfriend should do too.

Kurt sighed. His policy of being as honest as possible came into action.

“That’s Blaine’s PR team, actually,” he said. “They’ll be using that account to promote some stuff.”

“And you’ll let them?”

“I… don’t… mind?” he stammered.

Sebastian hummed, unconvinced.

“I mean, there are a lot of things about being in a relationship with Blaine that are… complicated. In fact, I wanted to talk to you about that.”

“Me?”

“Yes, actually. You see, Blaine doesn’t seem to like it when I talk to you.”

“No kidding.”

“I know. He’s… uncomfortable about the idea of us talking.”

“Oh. So you’re not talking to me anymore," he concluded in a sharp tone.

“What? No! I just want us to keep talking privately. And avoid Blaine at all costs. I don’t want to upset him, but I really think you and I can be friends.”

Sebastian seemed to weigh his words.

“Avoiding Blaine at all costs… That sounds like fun.”

Kurt laughed.

“Look at me suggesting a secret affair. Please don’t ever quote me on it?”

“See? That’s what I’ll miss on twitter, your humor.”

Kurt smiled.

“We’ll always have our secret accounts,” he said. 

“Promise?” asked Sebastian, petulant.

“Promise.”

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

For the three weeks previous to the beginning of the tour, Blaine and Sebastian had been MIA because of the fifteen-hours-a-day rehearsals. Some mornings Kurt woke up to messages from a sleep-deprived Sebastian, who described every detail—the stage, the choreography, the wardrobe, and most importantly, the surprises they had prepared for the audience.

**They are letting us sing a song out of character!!**

_What?_

**They say we can pick a song for each show. We can sing as ourselves. Well, just me, Blaine, and Nick, cause we’re the main characters this season.**

_OMG, that’s fantastic, what are you picking?_

**I DON’T KNOW. Too excited to think! Suggestions?**

_Rihanna,_ wrote Kurt, _P!nk, One Direction._

**Lame,** replied Sebastian.

_You are lame,_ replied Kurt.

He refrained from telling him that he was actually suggesting things he knew Sebastian liked.

Rachel chose that moment to enter the kitchen.

“Is that Blaine?”

Kurt’s smile disappeared.

“Yes,” he lied.

Rachel wasn’t looking at him, too busy looking for a cup.

“You can ask him to come to dinner with us tonight. Now that Mercedes is coming and everything. She’s been so busy… I don’t know when you could introduce him to us at any other time before he goes on tour.”

“You’re not being subtle, Rachel.”

She put the cup on the counter and frowned.

“I’m not trying to be. I think it’s high time we met your boyfriend.”

“He’s really busy with rehearsals,” said Kurt.

“But you haven’t even asked. He could say yes. We are your _friends_ , Kurt.”

_You are my friends,_ he thought, _but he’s not my boyfriend._

“It’s not a good moment,” he said instead. “And I want to focus on Mercedes before she’s too famous to have dinner with us.”

“She’d never skip dinner with her friends, not even if she became the new Beyoncé,” said Rachel pointedly. “Unlike some people.”

Kurt sighed and wished he had a real a boyfriend, one who would come to dinner with his friends.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

The tour finally started.

Kurt was not the only “WAG” visiting the _Dalton_ cast some days. Fortunately, he was the only one with his own room. He had put his foot down and Blaine didn’t seem to be extremely worried about appearances. He got to keep his nightly skin-care routine, his beauty sleep, and his morning routine. And his dignity. 

The rest of the cast didn’t even pay attention to him. They were focused on the shows, and by the time they came back they were either knackered and ready for bed or hyper and ready to party. And none of those plans included Kurt.

When Blaine wanted to party, he took Kurt for dinner, got some pictures for his Instagram, took him back to the hotel, and then went out, either with his castmates or with his fans or with god knows who.

The first times it happened, Sebastian didn’t seem to notice. But one night, in Dallas, he caught Kurt coming back from dinner, alone. Sebastian was all dressed-up, apparently ready to go out.

“Kurt?” he whispered, looking behind him. “Is Blaine with you?”

Kurt shook his head quickly, trying to reassure him.

“No, he went out.”

“Went out, _went out?”_ he asked, incredulous.

“ _Went out,_ ” confirmed Kurt. “I guess he needed to… relax before the show tomorrow.”

“Relax,” repeated Sebastian. “By going out. Without you.”

Well, that didn’t sound couple-y at all.

“He just wants to dance a bit. Then he’ll come back to his room. Our room.”

_Sweet cheesus, Kurt, shut up_ , he thought. _I’m just really tired,_ he answered himself. _This morning I was in LA and now I’m here, and I just want to sleep._

Sebastian looked doubtful, then his doubt turned into realization.

“Oh, it’s part of your… arrangement.”

Kurt winced internally.

“Yes,” he said instead.

“And it… doesn’t bother you?”

“No, it doesn’t. We have a very solid relationship. Everything is alright.”

Sebastian just nodded.

“Hey, I feel like going out,” he said. “Have you had dinner?”

Kurt nodded, a bit sad to miss an opportunity to talk with Sebastian.

“Yes, I’m actually just coming back from dinner with Blaine.”

“Oh.” Sebastian seemed disappointed too. “Well, if you don’t mind watching me eat a really unhealthy burger, I could order room service. We could hang out.”

“Really? You don’t have to change your plans…”

“Oh, please, not this boring conversation again. Wanna come?”

Kurt ended up sitting on Sebastian’s bed while he ate in an armchair. The room was small, and only had one bed, but at least Sebastian didn’t have to share it, like most of the cast.

“I’m not being spoiled,” he explained. “Everyone else wanted to share with their buddies or girlfriends or whatever. That left me alone. I mean, I could share with Blaine but I thought…” He glanced at Kurt. “Never mind. Are you sure you don’t want to have anything?” he offered, pointing at the obscene amounts of food that the hotel had brought him with his dinner.

Kurt felt restless, just sitting there, so he asked for a cup of tea. That way he’d have something to do with his hands at least.

When Sebastian finished his meal, they talked more.

“What place are you most looking forward to?” Kurt asked.

“New York,” he answered immediately.

“Really? Why?”

Sebastian looked straight ahead for some seconds.

“This is going to sound super stupid, so you only get to mock me for two minutes and that’s it. I’m feeling lenient.”

Kurt laughed.

“Or I can simply _not_ mock you, if it’s what you want. If it’s serious stuff.”

He saw Sebastian play with the hem of his shirt in a nervous gesture.

“I used to dream of studying in NYU,” he said. “I wanted to be an attorney, like my dad. Or a historian like my mom.”

“You didn’t want to be an actor?” he asked, astonished.

“I did too, for a while. I just don’t think I do anymore,” he explained.

He looked tired and sad. Kurt wanted to stand up and hug him, but he didn’t think they were at that stage in their friendship, so he stayed in place.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Sebastian shrugged.

“Acting is all fun and games until it’s not,” he said.

“What do you mean?” When Sebastian remained silent, he elaborated. “I mean, the only thing about acting I really know is auditioning and being in front of a camera for like two minutes. Both of those things _are_ a pain in the neck, but I enjoy them.”

“You’re what… twenty?” asked Sebastian, out of nowhere.

“Twenty two,” replied Kurt.

Sebastian seemed surprised, but nodded.

“I was still seventeen when I auditioned for _Dalton._ Eighteen when we shot the pilot.”

“You were really young,” he commented.

“Just like all the others,” he said. “I was young and stupid, and I felt the world was at my feet. I expected everyone to like me, and when that didn’t happen I got angry. I’m still angry.”

“At Blaine?”

Sebastian sighed and looked at the ceiling.

“It’s not about unrequited love,” he explained. “Or it’s not only about that. Blaine has been hot and cold with me from the beginning, yes, but he’s also friends with the rest of the cast. He makes fast friends, he’s…”

“Charming,” completed Kurt, after some seconds of silence.

“That’s a word for it,” said Sebastian. “The rest of the guys love him. The directors love him, the producers love him. Everyone loves him. He’s easy to love. I’m… I’m not easy to love,” he concluded.

Kurt felt a knot in his throat.

“And I get it, really, because when things don’t go my way, I get angry, and petty, and bitchy,” he finally looked back at Kurt. “Exhibit A,” he said, pointing at him with his arm.

Kurt couldn’t hold it anymore. He stood up, made Sebastian do the same and hugged the air out of him. Sebastian remained tense for the first Mississippi, but then he hugged him back, and sighed.

Ten—slow—Mississippis later, Kurt let go of him.

“Back in Lima we created a glee club out of rejects. I don’t see why we can’t create our own rejects club here too. Founding members? You and I,” he proposed.

Sebastian chuckled.

“First of all, you were in an actual glee club? That sounds awful! Second of all, you’re not a reject, Kurt,” he rolled his eyes.

Kurt elbowed him jokingly.

“Tell me that after you see my CV. Spoiler alert: it’s full of auditions and empty of roles. Moreover, if you think your castmates don’t speak to _you,_ you should see them in a room with me. It’s like a Chaplin movie. I can hear the music in my head.”

Sebastian just stared at him.

“No way,” he said.

“Yes way,” said Kurt. “So, rejects club?”

He raised his hand for a high five. Sebastian high fived him without thinking.

“So…” said Kurt, trying to change to a lighter topic. “Speaking of New York, I’d be excited about it too! Did I ever tell you I wanted to be a Broadway performer for a while?”

“No, you didn’t. But I can totally see it.”

“Well, let us sit down. You’re going to hear a long, long story full of dramatic music numbers, misunderstandings, betrayals, and duels to death.”

He sat on the bed and patted the space next to him. Sebastian sat and turned to focus his attention on him.

“That sounds like the plot of a James Bond movie.”

“It was worse than that!” said Kurt, dramatically. “It was Glee Club.”

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

“Kurt,” said the voice of an angel.

“Mhm?”

“Kurt, you have to wake up. It’s late and I need to get ready.”

“Wha—?”

He finally opened his eyes, in panic. He was in Sebastian’s room. He’d fallen asleep in the middle of a conversation. He blushed. He was mostly over the sheets, but one of them was covering him. He stood up in the blink of an eye and arranged his clothes.

Sebastian was standing by the bathroom door. He looked as rumpled as him. He was wearing yesterday’s clothes and his hair was a mess.

“Where did you sleep?” asked Kurt, a bit breathy.

Sebastian pointed at the other side of the bed.

“I tried to wake you up, but you were out cold,” he explained. “So I thought I’d take a nap and wait for you to wake up.”

Kurt looked for his phone and unlocked it to check the time.

“I didn’t wake up,” he said, seeing that it was 9:00 a.m.

“Neither did I, so…”

“Oh my god, I need to go,” he said, rushing to the door. He tried to dispel his sleepy head, to remember where his room was, and whether he had a key with him.

“I won’t tell Blaine. I won’t tell anyone,” said Sebastian quickly, trying to reassure him. “And it’s not as if we… but I won’t tell you were here.”

Kurt stopped on his way to the door to thank him. Then he opened it, closed it carefully, and ran to his room.

Once there, he begged his heart to stop going fucking crazy, but it didn’t.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

Kurt got bored after the Warblers left the hotel, so he opened a book and read half of it; then he called his dad. That conversation wasn’t long. Kurt was trying to tell him everything about his trips from LA to wherever Blaine wanted him to be and back to LA. But he also wanted to put off telling him about his visit to Ohio. He’d decided he would cross that bridge when he came to it.

When he hung up, he found himself with his cellphone in his hands and a lot of free time before his nightly routine. He decided to check his "official" twitter profile. He scrolled down, trying to discern Chandler (the handler)’s personality. He tweeted a lot about Blaine, football, Blaine, boxing, Blaine, and the concerts. He seemed excited about everything, judging by his exclamation marks everywhere.

He was about to give up on twitter when he saw his own account updating with a link to a high definition video of Blaine’s performance at the show that night. He looked at the time—9:40 p.m. The show must have finished some minutes before. He clicked on the video thumbnail out of curiosity.

Blaine was singing _Fighter_ by Christina Aguilera as his surprise number for the evening. The crowd was cheering, and he was jumping around and boxing dramatically on stage. Kurt tried to remember how it felt to have a crush on him when he saw those moves in _Dalton,_ but his brain didn’t cooperate.

That YouTube video was automatically followed by another. This was a fan camera focused on Sebastian. He heard the first notes of his surprise song and gasped. He looked at the title of the video and yeah, it was that song. He took advantage of his solitude to squeal. He paused the video and played it again from the start.

The intro was slow, with Sebastian sitting at the stage piano with his headset on. He played while singing the first part.

[[We Found Love - Rihanna, Alex Goot cover](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWzGyf8gWo4) ] 

**Yellow diamonds in the light  
** **And we're standing side by side  
** **As your shadow crosses mine  
** **What it takes to come alive**

Suddenly, Sebastian’s voice went up, the guitar and the drum joined in and the song became fast-paced and full of energy.

**It's the way I'm feeling I just can't deny  
** **But I've gotta let it go**

Sebastian stood up. A musician took his place at the piano, and Sebastian walked to the center of the stage. The crowd cheered and sang the chorus with him.

**We found love in a hopeless place  
** **We found love in a hopeless place  
** **We found love in a hopeless place  
** **We found love in a hopeless place**

As the music bridge roared in the arena, Sebastian danced in his _Dalton_ uniform, twirling and jumping with enthusiasm.

**Shine a light through an open door  
** **Love and life I will divide  
** **Turn away 'cause I need you more  
** **Feel the heartbeat in my mind**

When Sebastian lifted his hand to mess his hair with that last verse, the fan recording the video screamed. She wasn’t the only one.

**It's the way I'm feeling I just can't deny  
** **But I've gotta let it go**

Sebastian walked to the right side of the stage and the fan’s camera lost him. Kurt bit his lip. He decided to wait and see if he appeared again.

**We found love in a hopeless place  
** **We found love in a hopeless place  
** **We found love in a hopeless place  
** **We found love in a hopeless place**

He couldn’t see him, but he could hear him. And he loved his voice in this song. He came into focus again and Kurt’s heart raced.

Then the music stopped and all the lights focused on Sebastian. The fan was screaming but so were a lot of people around her. Little by little there was silence and Sebastian sang a cappella.

**Yellow diamonds in the light  
** **And we're standing side by side  
** **As your shadow crosses mine**

 _Boom,_ there were fireworks and the music started again for the last choruses.

**We found love in a hopeless place  
** **We found love in a hopeless place**  
 **We found love in a hopeless place  
** **We found love in a hopeless place**

Sebastian walked directly towards the fan recording the video. The fan lost it and the camera shook in her hands when he reached down and touched some hands that were reaching out for him, including hers.

When the song finished, Kurt was shaking as much as that camera. He pressed “replay”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Songs in this chapter:  
> We Found Love - Rihanna ft. Calvin Harris (Cover by Alex Goot, 2011)
> 
> I changed the rating because I was making some edits and suddenly something smutty happened in later chapters..... oopsie


	7. Funny how the heart can be deceiving (more than just a couple times)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kurts gets to go to a Warblers' concert. Ohio is here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Blaine is in Ohio. Repeat. Blaine is in Ohio.

Kurt’s had some free days after Dallas. He tidied up the apartment, worked hard on his exercise routines, squealed at Mercedes’ new demos, helped Rachel to learn some lines, and researched for his own auditions. Then his time was up and he was off to Chicago to spend another couple of nights at a luxurious hotel looking pretty and doing nothing.

_Could be worse,_ he thought.

Blaine and Kurt had an early lunch before the show. After that, Kurt decided to go back to the hotel, while Blaine went to the venue for soundcheck.

He was in the lobby when he once again found himself face to face with Sebastian. His heart went off.

“Hey, Kurt.”

“Hello,” he said, trying to meet Sebastian’s eyes, even though he wanted to hide behind the reception desk.

“Where are you going?”

“To my room?” he replied, uncertain.

“So you’re not coming until later?”

“What?”

He blinked. Sebastian blinked.

“To the… show? You’re coming to the show, right? That’s why you’re here.”

If Kurt were to be honest, he had been following Blaine around the country like a lost puppy. But he had not been invited to a concert, nor had he asked to be there. Blaine paraded him around _before_ the shows. But they’d never said anything about going _to_ the shows.

“I’m… yes. Sure. I’m coming later. Soundcheck sounds boring,” he said.

“It tends to be, but the guys and I try to have our fun.”

“The guys?” Kurt frowned. He didn’t like the way that sounded.

Sebastian opened his mouth, closed it again. Then he finally spoke.

“Why don’t you come with me? You can wander around and if Blaine asks anything, we’ll say one of the guys saw you all alone and offered to give you a tour.”

It did sound interesting, getting to be backstage, but something was bothering Kurt.

“Who exactly are _the guys_?”

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

The guys, it turned out, were the people from the crew—the sound guys, the lighting guys, the logistic guys. They saw Kurt getting there with Sebastian and they embraced him. They told him about their long hours. They had to be at the venues way before rehearsals and soundcheck. They left way later, only after everything was packed up for the next show.

They showed Kurt around. They answered every little question he came up with about the way the lights worked, or how much some equipment weighed, or what happened if he pushed a button.

Sebastian was with the other Warblers on stage, but he smiled cautiously every time he saw Kurt going around. Blaine didn’t notice he was there until Kurt sat right in front of the stage and waved at him. Blaine would have noticed he was there eventually, and he wanted him to do it in his own terms.

Blaine made a double take, but then he waved back, awkwardly. The rest of the guys elbowed him or cat called. Kurt blew him a kiss. He didn’t mind playing it up, as it was all for show anyway.

He got bored just before the doors opened. The Warblers were in hair and make-up and he didn’t feel comfortable in such a crowded and rowdy space. He decided to check the dressing room. He was touching some interesting fabric patterns when he was pushed behind the hanging suits.

“Oh, god!” he cried.

“Shh,” said Sebastian. “They could hear us.”

His brain decided to focus on the fact that they were very close to each other, hiding in a dressing room.

“Is this really necessary?” whispered Kurt.

“Just pretend we’re spies,” said Sebastian, whispering too. “I just wanted to know if you liked your tour.”

“It was enlightening, to be honest. The _guys_ are really nice, Paul and Mark, Brenda and Liza, and Mike... and the others. But I don’t get it, you said you didn’t have any friends…”

Sebastian’s face turned a little somber. 

“I mean, I met these guys at the beginning of the tour. And we’ve been spending a lot of time traveling together. Then after Dallas… I said hello. They said hello. They were nice to me. It was refreshing.”

“They seem quite nice. I’m glad you’re making new friends. Go team rejects!”

Sebastian giggled.

“You helped, to be honest. I thought, well, talking to Kurt kind of worked out. Let’s see if the lightning strikes twice.”

Kurt smiled at him.

“I’m happy for you,” he whispered finally. “You look happy, too.”

“I’m also excited about the show,” he explained. “Performing on stage has been awesome. It’s nothing like on set. The people… I can’t believe they cheer for me, honestly. It’s blowing my mind.”

“You deserve it. You’re really talented.”

He refrained from saying he’d watched each and every one of his surprise performances. Sebastian smirked at him.

“I hope you like my surprise song tonight.”

“What is it?”

Sebastian’s smirk turned even more mischievous.

“I can’t say. It’s a _surprise_.”

“Oh, _come on_!”

“You better come out of there,” said a voice. “They’re coming to this room in a minute.”

Kurt almost had an attack, but it turned out to be Mike, one of the guys _._

Sebastian took his Dalton uniform from a hanger, winked at him, and went away to change. Kurt stood there for some seconds, stunned. Then he shook his head and went to find a place where he could see the show.

It was the first time he was going to see it live. He felt thrilled.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

Kurt made himself small in the right wing, as close to the stage as possible. He made sure not to be in the way of the people coming and going, but he also made sure to have a good view of the huge screens.

As soon as the first song started, Kurt felt so nostalgic that he had to put his hand over his heart.

The Warblers were standing behind Blaine, as he walked to the front.

_Your lipstick stains  
_ _On the front lobe of my left-side brains  
_ _I knew I wouldn't forget you  
_ _And so I went and let you  
_ _Blow my mind_

_Your sweet moonbeam  
_ _The smell of you in every single dream I dream  
_ _I knew when we collided  
_ _You're the one I have decided  
_ _Who's one of my kind_

Kurt remembered loving that song on TV. Seeing it live was an uncanny experience.

The show went on, one blow of nostalgia after another.

They sang _Silly Love Songs,_ and _Somewhere Only We Know,_ but then they went crazy with _Raise Your Glass and Do You Think I’m Sexy._ Sebastian and Nick picked a fan to come on the stage and then danced around her with the others, singing _Uptown Girl._ Kurt laughed so hard at her elated face. 

The whole cast delivered a complex choreography for _Bills, Bills, Bills._ It was amazing, how they had the energy to run around the stage jumping and doing cartwheels. They had a break with _Animal,_ because they performed like they did for the show, with basic steps. Meanwhile, other dancers appeared on the corners of the stage, encouraging the audience to move with them.

Next, Blaine was on the spotlight for _Misery._ The rest of the Warblers danced animatedly around him, except Sebastian, who took advantage of the distraction to go say hello to some fans with signs calling for him.

Kurt found himself following him with his eyes, so when everyone started to clap to the rhythm of the song, he startled.

Sebastian got another solo, singing _Live While We Are Young_. He looked happy and full of energy. Kurt grinned, beautiful memories playing in his head. 

They had a serious moment when they sang _Stand,_ and announced that they were receiving donations for It Gets Better.

From then on, everything happened too fast. Kurt blinked and suddenly the Warblers were leaving the stage and the audience was going crazy, asking for more.

Blaine jumped in his place and clapped excitedly.

“Let's go, guys!”

Everyone ran to the stage again. To Kurt’s surprise, it was time for a Sebastian solo. Kurt spent the whole of _Glad You Came_ covering his mouth so as not to scream his heart out. He loved it.

Finally, the music transitioned and the song that made Kurt fall in love with the show blasted for the whole the arena, filling Kurt’s eyes with tears.

_You think I'm pretty  
_ _Without any make-up on  
_ _You think I'm funny  
_ _When I tell the punchline wrong  
_ _I know you get me  
_ _So I let my walls come down, down_

 _Before you met me  
_ _I was alright  
_ _But things were kinda heavy  
_ _You brought me to life  
_ _Now every February  
_ _You'll be my Valentine, Valentine_

Kurt felt his heart ache as he saw Blaine making people fall in love with him all over again. He wondered if Sebastian had felt like this when Blaine was breaking his heart. He sighed, grieving for a long lost feeling.

“If you thought that was all,” said Blaine when everybody was clapping on their feet. “You’re wrong. This isn’t over! We’re signing some surprise songs tonight!”

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

Nick sang _The Scientist_ and he made the whole crowd turn their phone lights on. It looked beautiful, and everyone seemed to collectively sigh in peace.

Then Sebastian appeared in Kurt’s wing. He winked at him and entered the stage. The first notes started, and Sebastian’s voice filled the arena.

[ [Try - P!nk (cover by Eli Lieb)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWrZbEmNC9k)]

 **Oh…  
** **Ever wonder about what he's doing?  
** **How it all turned to lies?  
** **Sometimes I think that it's better to never ask why**

Kurt approached as much as possible to the stage, watching his every move.

**Where there is desire  
** **There is gonna be a flame  
** **Where there is a flame  
** **Someone's bound to get burned  
** **But just because it burns  
** **Doesn't mean you're gonna die...**

He expected something more energetic, like _We Found Love._ This time, though, the song was powerful, but Sebastian filled it with melancholy. He was in the middle of the stage, but he filled it with.

**You've gotta get up and try, and try, and try  
** **Gotta get up and try, and try, and try  
** **You gotta get up and try, and try, and try**

Sebastian looked right into the camera while his voice went raspy on the word _try._ He seemed to look into Kurt's soul.

**Funny how the heart can be deceiving  
** **More than just a couple times  
** **Why do we fall in love so easy?  
** **Even when it's not right**

Sebastian shook his head, and a self-deprecating smile appeared on his face.

Kurt was trying to understand what was going on, but his heart was racing and he felt lightheaded. He could do nothing but keep looking.

**Where there is desire  
** **There is gonna be a flame  
** **And where there is a flame  
** **Someone's bound to get burned  
** **And just because it burns  
** **Doesn't mean you're gonna die  
** **You've gotta get up and try, and try, and try  
** **Gotta get up and try, and try, and try  
** **You gotta get up and try, and try, and try**

His voice was so powerful, so much stronger with every repetition.

**Ever worry that it might be ruined  
** **And does it make you wanna cry?  
** **When you're out there doing what you're doing  
** **Are you just getting by?  
** **Tell me are you just getting by, by, by?**

Kurt covered his mouth with his hand, trying to cover his expression. Was this… about him? It was silly, but it felt like this song was about him. _I’m just getting by,_ he thought.

**Where there is desire  
** **There is gonna be a flame  
** **Where there is a flame  
** **Someone's bound to get burned  
** **But just because it burns  
** **Doesn't mean you're gonna die  
** **You've gotta get up and try, and try, and try**

Sebastian’s voice broke a little in the final part, but when the song finished, he seemed as self-composed and strong as ever. Except for his beautiful brown eyes, which were full of sadness.

He left the stage from the opposite wing, and Blaine entered at the same time. He walked right to the piano and he sat over it. His dramatic face was on, and he looked straight ahead, as if lost in thought.

There's a place that I know  
It's not pretty there and few have ever gone  
If I show it to you now,  
Will it make you run away?

Or will you stay  
Even if it hurts  
Even if I try to push you out,  
Will you return?

And remind me who I really am  
Please remind me who I really am

He jumped from the piano and sang to the people, who cheered enthusiastically.

Everybody's got a dark side  
Do you love me?  
Can you love mine?  
Nobody's a picture perfect  
But we're worth it  
You know that we're worth it  
Will you love me?  
Even with my dark side?

Kurt was present for the rest of Blaine’s performance, of course he was, but he didn’t really _see it._ He was too busy reading too much into Sebastian’s song choice. And he knew he was being ridiculous, but he couldn’t help but feel that Sebastian was trying to tell him something.

Like a diamond  
From black dust  
It's hard to know  
It can become  
If you give up  
So don't give up on me  
Please remind me who I really am

Was it something about him? Was it something about Blaine? Was it something about their fake relationship? Kurt’s head was all over the place.

Nobody's a picture perfect  
But we're worth it  
You know that we're worth it  
Will you love me?  
Even with my dark side?

Kurt woke up from his thoughts when Blaine came running to his wing. The rest of the Warblers were there, whistling, jumping, clapping, high on adrenaline. The audience was doing the same. The lights went out and background music began playing. The show was over.

Everyone was congratulating Blaine on the closing number.

Sebastian was looking at them with his best unimpressed face. Kurt glanced at him. Sebastian glanced back and shrugged, the slightest smirk on his face.

“Kurt!” said Blaine. “Did you like it?”

“Of course I did, honey,” said Kurt in his sweetest voice.

Blaine seemed pleased enough with that.

“What did you think, Sebastian?” he asked then, facing Sebastian.

Everyone turned to Sebastian. The man, to his credit, remained unimpressed.

“Flawless,” he said, wryly, and blew Blaine a kiss.

Blaine grinned, as if it were a sincere compliment.

Kurt didn’t realize it, but he frowned.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

Kurt had missed his chance to speak to Sebastian again that night. They went back to the hotel in different vans, and Blaine didn’t leave his side until they were at Kurt’s door.

“Good night, Kurt,” he said. “Thanks for coming to the show to support me. I hope you enjoyed it.”

“I did!” said Kurt honestly. “You guys are doing a wonderful job. It’s amazing.”

Blaine’s smile was radiant.

“Thanks, I’m giving my all.”

Kurt smiled back, nervously, not knowing what else to say except _Would you mind if I went to bed? I’m emotionally exhausted._

Without giving him any time to think, Blaine hugged him. Kurt tensed.

“You’re a fantastic boyfriend,” said Blaine.

“Thank you,” said Kurt, with widening eyes.

“Some days I don’t know what I’d do without you,” said Blaine, close to his ear.

By that moment, Kurt was speechless and uncomfortable, so he simply patted Blaine’s back.

He was finally let go of. Then Blaine leaned in to kiss his cheek.

Kurt saw his chance and took it. The moment Blaine’s lips touched his face, he opened the door, went in, and closed the door in the time it took to say, “Good night, Blaine!”

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

He went back to LA.

He kept texting Sebastian now and then, but his tour schedule was crazy. They hadn’t really _talked_ , so Kurt was twice as nervous about his next trip—Columbus.

On the one hand, it was going to be the first time he saw Sebastian again, and he had spent the week rewatching his surprise performances. He’d basically memorized his every move and he felt creepy and elated at the same time.

On the other hand, Blaine kept insisting on going to Lima and Kurt hadn’t warned his dad about the situation yet.

When he landed in Columbus, he couldn’t avoid the second situation anymore.

“Dad?” he said over the phone.

“Yeah?”

“Remember when I was like seventeen and I was in the school production of _Rocky Horror_ and you went to see me and ignored all the creepy details in that play and you said I had inherited all my acting talent from Mom?”

“That’s a really specific memory there, buddy,” said Burt. “But yes, I remember.”

“Do you remember what I said?”

“You said ‘Please tell me you closed your eyes for the whole thing except for The Time Warp,’” said Burt.

Kurt paused.

“I did say that. That play was quite disturbing. But no. You said I had inherited all my acting talent from Mom. And I said ‘At least some of my talent must have come from you.’”

“Kurt… is there a point—?”

“I’m in Columbus,” he interrupted, wincing. “Blaine wants to visit Lima to take some pictures and I’m taking him home,” he explained, speaking as fast as possible.

Burt was quiet for a second.

“Are you two… dating for real?”

“No! No! Dad, no. It’s still about the contract.”

“The one he hasn’t been honoring.”

Kurt winced even more.

“Yeah. The one you know everything about when you shouldn’t. And he wants to meet you!”

Burt sighed.

“Listen, Kurt. I’m all for you bringing a boy home when the time comes. But this is not the boy and this is not the time. I know you're trying hard because of your career, but don't you think there should be a limit?”

Kurt felt like crying.

“I know,” he said. “I hate it, but he insisted so much, and he seemed so—”

“Kurt, what’s going on?” asked Burt, bluntly. “I know you, and I know you’re not afraid of saying no when you need to. What’s this? Is that boy _forcing_ you—?”

“No! No, Dad… I’ve just—” he got quiet, trying to explain the situation to his dad. He hadn’t explained it to himself, so he ended up thinking out loud. “I’ve just been doing whatever he says,” he concluded.

“Mhm,” said Burt. “That’s not good.”

“No, it isn’t,” agreed Kurt. “I’ll try to keep Blaine away from the house. But just in case something happens, please keep in mind that you know absolutely nothing about the contract. Blaine’s my boyfriend and we’re happy.”

“So that was the point about the acting talent and _Rocky Horror?”_ he asked, bemused. “You have a way with words, Kurt.”

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

Blaine was waiting for him in the backseat of a black SVU. A chauffeur drove them all the way to Lima. He spent the whole way asking Kurt every possible question about his hometown and his family, trying to cram into those two hours everything he should have known had they actually dated for months.

“So can I call him Burt?”

“You won’t need to call him anything,” said Kurt. “He’s busy. We’re going to stroll around, then we’re taking pictures at Schoonover Park, and then we’re going back to Columbus. You need to have a good night’s sleep before tomorrow’s show.”

Blaine gaped at him.

“But that was not our plan.”

“If I may?” said Kurt. “The previous plan was your plan, but I didn’t think it was a wise one, so I made some adjustments.”

“Can I still see the house where you grew up?” asked Blaine, putting on a sad façade.

Kurt sighed.

“We might go near, but we won’t go in.”

“Just from the outside is OK,” said Blaine, with an unhappy pout.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

Blaine was so annoyingly insistent that Kurt ended up giving the chauffeur directions to his childhood home. When they got there, he pointed at it and expected that to be it.

“I want a picture,” said Blaine.

“I’d rather not have a picture of my parents’ house going viral online,” protested Kurt.

“I won’t even post it!” he said cheerfully, and then he opened the door, left the car, and ran to the house.

“I knew it,” said Kurt angrily. He got out of the car, slammed the door closed, and followed Blaine.

He was already knocking on the door.

“What are you doing?” asked Kurt, livid.

Blaine looked at him like a deer in headlights. The door opened, saving Blaine from certain death.

“Hello,” he said extending his hand. “I’m Blaine Anderson, your son’s boyfriend. It’s so nice to finally meet you.”

Kurt’s anger only paled in comparison with Burt’s. He didn’t need to say anything, his eyes betrayed his emotions.

As his hand was not well received, Blaine put it down.

“I’m— Kurt said you were busy, so I’m just here to give you tickets for our show in Columbus tomorrow!” he said, as cheerful as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening. “You can bring your wife! I’ve got three tickets! One is for Kurt, of course,” he added, offering an envelope. 

Burt frowned, but kept quiet. Kurt knew he must be biting his tongue to stop himself from giving Blaine a piece of his mind.

Blaine didn’t seem discouraged. “I’ve taken the liberty of making reservations for you at the same hotel we’re staying in. I thought you could stay after the show, and then spend a day in Columbus with Kurt? I know you haven’t seen him a lot lately, and LA is so far away from here…”

That seemed to bring Burt’s defence down, but he turned his eyes toward Kurt, asking a silent question.

Kurt was furious, but he wasn’t missing the chance to spend time with his father. He nodded discreetly.

Burt took the envelope with the tickets.

“Thanks, Mr. Anderson. It’s… nice to meet you too. Now, if you can excuse me, I have—”

“Of course!” he replied, animatedly. “I couldn’t possibly make you waste another minute. We’ll be off, then. We’ll see you tomorrow! I can’t wait to see you during the show! You’ve got front-row seats!”

Burt grimaced, not quite smiling.

Kurt took Blaine’s hand, as if he were a child, and took him back to the SUV.

“I know that—” started Blaine.

Kurt raised his hand, shutting him up.

“Please don’t say anything. I am angry and I don’t want to fight right now. We’ve never fought, not really. Let’s not start.”

Blaine bit his lip and nodded.

P!ink’s _Perfect_ blared in the car. The driver tapped the wheel to the rhythm, happily. Blaine started to sing.

_Made a wrong turn, once or twice  
_ _Dug my way out, blood and fire  
_ _Bad decisions, that's alright  
_ _Welcome to my silly life_

Kurt didn’t feel like singing, so he stared him down until he got quiet. When the song changed to _Just Like a Pill,_ he just rolled his eyes. Blaine stayed in place, biting his lip.

Run just as fast as I can  
To the middle of nowhere  
To the middle of my frustrated fears  
And I swear you're just like a pill  
'Stead of makin' me better  
You keep makin' me ill  
You keep makin' me ill

Miraculously, Blaine managed to keep quiet all the way to the hotel. Kurt rushed to the stairs and left him to wait for the elevator. He called his dad to apologize, but Burt said he was actually excited to get to spend time with Kurt. He was already making plans for their day together. Kurt’s heart melted, and he forgot about Blaine’s meddlesome ways.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you SO MUCH for your kudos and kind comments. I'm so happy this fic is being well-received! :) 
> 
> Songs in this chapter:
> 
> Soul Sister - as performed by the Warblers  
> Teenage Dream - same  
> Try - P!nk, Femrys Watson cover  
> Darkside - as performed in Glee  
> Perfect- P!nk  
> Just Like a Pill - P!nk
> 
> (I warned you there was going to be soooo much P!nk...)


	8. Just give me a reason (just a little bit's enough)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sebastian and Blaine both have questions for Kurt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apparently, Ao3 is having problems with mail alerts. Some people didn't receive one for chapter 7. You might want to check if you read it?
> 
> Also,
> 
> Warning: Blaine

He'd been back from Lima for a couple of hours when he received a message from Sebastian. It was already dark outside. 

**Hey, are you still auditioning around?**

_Yes,_ replied Kurt. _Why?_

Sebatian sent him a link to a Facebook post. An agency was looking for young male actors based in LA.

**I know the casting director. Super nice woman. Thought you might be interested. I’ll put in a good word for you if you want me to ;)**

_Thank you!_ Replied Kurt, excited. _But what will you ask for in exchange?_

**Wanna come with me to a really creepy place?**

Kurt snorted.

_You need to work on your pick up lines_ , he wrote back, joking. _Unless that’s supposed to be a threat, in which case kudos, you’re doing it great._

**You’re already in Columbus, right?**

_Yes._

**At the hotel?**

_Yeah…_

**Are you alone?**

_Yes. And you’re really going for the serial killer vibes, aren’t you?_

**Meet me at the lobby in 5.**

Kurt rolled his eyes, but decided to comply.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

“Sebastian, are you sure we can be here?” he whispered.

Sebastian shrugged.

“Sure, some the guys are here too, they got the keys tonight instead of tomorrow morning, which was awesome,” he explained.

They went in and Kurt’s jaw went down.

It was surreal. The place was completely empty. “The guys” were around, sure, but at that precise moment, as Sebastian and he stood in the middle of the arena, it seemed like they were alone in the world.

The instruments for the show were haphazardly placed near the place where the stage was going to be set, but nothing was ready yet. It was kind of magical.

“I’ve never been in an empty arena before,” said Kurt.

“Neither have I,” said Sebastian. “It’s so creepy.”

“It _is,_ ” confirmed Kurt. “But also kind of fun. You can imagine there are thousands of fans here, chanting your name.”

Sebastian smiled.

“Yeah, I can hear them, waiting for me to give them the time of their lives.”

Kurt twirled, as if scanning the audience.

He got distracted, so it came as a surprise when he heard the piano. God knows how Sebastian had gotten it to play, but he was standing there, pushing some keys. Little by little, he warmed up and finally shaped the intro to a familiar song. 

[[Just Give Me A Reason - P!nk ft Nate Ruess, Cover by J Rice](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0MULnSHdb4) )

 **Right from the start  
** **You were a thief  
** **You stole my heart  
** **And I… your willing victim**

 **I let you see the parts of me  
** **That weren't all that pretty  
** **And with every touch you fixed them**

**Now you've been talking in your sleep, oh, oh  
** **Things you never say to me, oh, oh  
** **Tell me that you've had enough  
** **Of our** **—**

Sebastian stopped for a second, but then went on to sing the chorus.

**Just give me a reason  
** **Just a little bit's enough  
** **Just a second—we're not broken, just bent  
** **And we can learn to love again  
** **It's in the stars  
** **It's been written in the scars on our hearts  
** **We're not broken, just bent  
** **And we can learn to love again**

Sebastian stopped playing. Kurt’s treacherous eyes were a little wet, his heart was beating fast, and he couldn’t stop himself.

 _I'm sorry I don't understand  
_ _Where all of this is coming from  
_ _I thought that we were fine_

Sebastian was frozen in his place, so he missed P!nk’s part, but Kurt went on:

 _Your head is running wild again  
_ _My dear we still have everything  
_ _And it's all in your mind_

 _You've been having real bad dreams, oh, oh  
_ _You used to lie so close to me, oh, oh  
_ _There's nothing more than empty sheets between our love, our love  
_ _Oh our love, our love_

Sebastian finally joined him for the chorus, which they sang a cappella, face to face.

 **_Just give me a reason, just a little bit's enough  
_ ** **_Just a second—we're not broken, just bent and we can learn to love again  
_ ** **_It's in the stars, it's been written in the scars on our hearts_**  
 ** _That we're not broken just bent and we can learn to love again_**

They didn’t go on, but Kurt was grinning. It felt good, singing with someone after such a long time. Sebastian was just staring at him, his mouth slightly open.

Then Sebastian’s phone buzzed, and the moment was over.

“Oh, Paul wants to know if we want to come to dinner with the guys.”

“Sure! I’m starving.”

He looked around one more time, making sure to remember every detail. 

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

They got to the hotel in a van, with the rest of the crew. They’d had fun at a diner, and everyone was in good spirits. They were ready for bed, though, as they all had an early morning the next day. Kurt could stay in bed until late, but he was really tired after the long day he’d had. While the guys crammed in the elevators, Kurt shrugged and decided to take the stairs again.

“I’ll go with you,” offered Sebastian.

“It’s eight floors,” said Kurt, surprised.

Sebastian shrugged.

“I’m in good shape, I can take it,” he said, defiant.

“I’m not questioning your stamina,” said Kurt. “I’m just saying it could be a lot.”

Sebastian shrugged. Kurt shrugged too. They went up slowly, in companionable silence.

“Hey,” said Sebastian, a little breathless, when they were on the third floor.

“Yes?”

“I, uhm… I wanted to talk to you about something.”

“Sure,” said Kurt. “What is it?”

Sebastian climbed some steps, then he replied.

“Do you still have your… open relationship thing with Blaine?”

Kurt felt suddenly cold and tense.

“Yes,” he replied, curtly.

He sped up a little. Sebastian tried to catch with him, valiantly.

“I just wanted to ask… if… if he doesn’t mind, and if you don’t mind…”

Kurt sped up even more. He wanted to close his eyes and stop this moment from happening. Sebastian was panting when he caught up with him and he had to stop and lean on a wall. Kurt felt bad, so he went back to stand next to him. He was also breathless. They were on the fifth floor.

“I’m sorry,” said Kurt. “You can tell me.”

He steeled himself for the answer he expected: Can I try again with Blaine, if your relationship is so open?

Sebastian waited some seconds, while his breathing became more regular. Then he turned to face Kurt. They were really close, and Kurt could feel Sebastian’s chest going up and down, up and down.

“Would you give me a chance?” he whispered.

Kurt’s eyes went wide.

“What?” he asked, high pitched.

Sebastian looked at him in the eyes, then at his lips, then back at his eyes.

“I’ve tried,” he explained, still breathless. “I’ve tried to be your friend, but you’re just so… _fucking hot_ ,” he said. “From the first time I saw you I thought _wow._ But then I got to know you and I can’t believe Blaine would rather… when you’re so—”

At Kurt’s silence, Sebastian got nervous and continued.

“You sing, you act, you’re funny, you’re smart, you _get me_ , you speak _French_ , you’re _super_ fit,” he laughed. “Sometimes I forget you’re with him, but when I remember… I die a little inside. I know it’s a long shot but I wanted to tell you just in case… just in case there’s a chance we can try,” he concluded. Then he couldn’t meet his eyes anymore, so he laughed awkwardly and looked at the wall. “Please say something?”

Kurt wanted to scream, cry, run, hide, and kiss Sebastian all at the same time. And the last one was new.

“Oh,” he said.

“Well, that’s reassuring,” said Sebastian.

“I’m just… wow, I didn’t see this coming.”

Sebastian’s face was dejected.

“I guess that’s my answer.”

“No, wait, I—” he tried to come up with something, anything to explain his predicament. “Blaine’s the one in favor of an open relationship,” he said. “I’m more of a monogamous person. So, I can’t… I can’t, really.”

To his utter surprise, Sebastian visibly cheered up with his answer.

“But you want to,” he said. His smirk appeared once again.

“I—” said Kurt. He could feel the heat in his face.

“You _do_ want to. Then that’s enough for me,” said Sebastian. “For now. Because I know Blaine’s not worth it. And I know you deserve so much better,” he said. “And I know I can show you we could be perfect.”

Kurt was left speechless.

Sebastian leaned toward him. He gave him some seconds to react, and then kissed his temple. His next unexpected move was to sing softly, next to his ear.

**Right from the start  
** **You were a thief  
** **You stole my heart  
** **And I’m your willing victim**

He then kissed his cheek and turned to leave.

Kurt stayed right where he was for more than a couple of minutes.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

He stayed up late, trying to make sense of the madness in his head. He couldn’t believe what had happened, and he couldn’t believe he hadn’t seen it coming. Or had he? Since when did Sebastian like him? Had he given any signs before? Was he making up the signs that he could clearly see now?

It didn’t matter, anyway, because he had to think of the damned contract. He had to be Blaine’s boyfriend for at least six months more. He couldn't just go for a relationship in the middle of it all, even if he'd lied about the open relationship thing. He couldn’t just tell Sebastian to wait, not without an explanation. And he couldn’t give one. He couldn’t just string him along like Blaine had done either—that would break everyone’s heart. Sebastian didn’t deserve that.

Kurt tossed and turned in bed, trying to find answers. He didn’t want to hurt Sebastian. He didn’t want to do anything to hurt Blaine or his own career. He didn’t want to be a bad person, but all the options he came up with were awful.

At the end of the day he realized he had a binding contract, and he couldn’t breach it. He felt tears in his eyes when he thought of the only way forwards—he’d have to reject Sebastian’s advances. He’d have to let go of the first person who had made him feel so happy and desired. He sobbed into the pillow even harder than the day of the red carpet.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

The following day, he waited for Burt and Carole. He was wearing make-up once again, to cover his eyes. They arrived in Columbus in time for lunch. Then they decided to head to the venue early so they wouldn’t have to deal with the crowds. Burt noticed that Kurt was upset, of course he did, but he just hugged him as hard as ever, without questions.

On the bright side, Kurt was happy to get to see the show from a front-row seat, he couldn’t deny that. But he was still mad at Blaine and he felt like crying every time he thought of Sebastian and their last night together.

He sat next to his dad, who was sitting next to Carole, holding her hand. She was excited, as she was actually a _Dalton_ fan. Burt had promised Kurt that she didn’t know anything about the Blaine thing, but Kurt was not so naïve. He knew his dad was absolutely honest with the people he loved. He just wished he could be the same.

They bought some sodas to pass the time, and they got so into catching up that their conversation was cut short by the whole arena screaming. Only then did Kurt realize that it was completely filled with people, in contrast to the previous evening. It was astonishing.

Soon, the lights dimmed down and the screams became louder. It was showtime.

The setlist was the same as last time, but now Kurt could appreciate the little details without breaking his neck from the sidelines. Everything was perfect—the singing, the dancing, the choreographies, the beautiful Dalton uniforms. He couldn’t take his eyes off Sebastian, hard as he tried. He was so happy to get to see him one last time. He felt childish.

Burt and Carole seemed to be having a good time, too. Burt, at least, did not yawn a single time. The only moment that felt really awkward was when Blaine sang _When I Get You Alone_ while the rest of the Warblers climbed and jumped over things around the stage. It was not the song per se… or maybe it was a little about the song, but it was more the fact that Blaine kept staring at him throughout his performance, which was not only unusual, but also kind of scary.

Baby girl you da shit  
That makes you my equivalent  
Well you can keep your toys in the drawer tonight,  
All right  
All my dogs talkin' fast  
Ain't you got some photographs?  
'Cause you shook that room like a star, now  
Yes you did, oh

Burt even glanced at him a couple of times, as if he was trying really hard not to ask questions. Kurt just schooled his face, trying to ignore the fact that Blaine was singing at him about sex toys, _right in front of his dad_. When it finally ended, he felt like he could breathe again.

That song kind of ruined the rest of the night for Kurt. He didn’t even get excited when he heard the first chords of _Teenage Dream._ The song that could make his heart go crazy once upon a time, this time just… didn’t.

The part that finally got him excited again was when they announced the surprise numbers. Kurt was basically shaking. They _were_ a surprise for him as well.

The first one to come on stage was Nick, but he was followed by Sebastian. Kurt was surprised and confused. Maybe they were duetting? But no, Sebastian was just helping Nick out with the piano for his song: She’s a Rainbow _,_ by the Rolling Stones.

Burt seemed truly entertained for the first time since they had sung _Silly Love Songs_ (he was not a fan of the rest of the Warbler’s repertoire). He and Carole even raised their hands and moved them this way and that way along with everyone else.

Kurt knew he was supposed to be watching Nick, but he couldn’t help but focus on Sebastian. Unexpectedly, Sebastian glanced at him during the chorus.

[[She's a Rainbow - The Rolling Stones](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6c1BThu95d8)]

_Have you seen her dressed in blue?_   
_See the sky in front of you_   
_And her face is like a sail_   
_Speck of white so fair and pale_   
_Have you seen a lady fairer?_

_She comes in colors everywhere  
She combs her hair.  
She’s like a rainbow,  
coming, colors in the air.  
Oh everywhere, she comes in colors… _

Sebastian didn’t have his mic on, but he sang that part. Although Kurt couldn’t hear him, he could _feel_ it, just like the first time he’d seen Sebastian singing live. Like it was for him. But this time he had evidence to realize it _was_ for him. And that was overwhelming.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

Sebastian stayed on the stage. He thanked the audience for being there and talked to them while the musicians prepared their instruments for his song. Out of nowhere, a person stood in front of Kurt. He looked up to see Paul, one of the guys that helped with logistics.

“Hey, Kurt,” said Paul.

“Hey?”

“Sebastian told me to give you this.”

Kurt gaped at him and took a piece of paper.

**This one (too) is for you.**

“What is it?” asked Burt. 

Kurt didn’t get to say one word. The song started. And when Kurt recognized it, he covered his mouth.

“Oh my god.”

He had a soft spot for Sebastian singing boyband songs, but this one…

[[Perfect - One Direction](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ho32Oh6b4jc)]

 **I might never be your knight in shining armor  
** **I might never be the one you take home to mother  
** **And I might never be the one who brings you flowers  
** **But I can be the one, be the one tonight**

Sebastian shrugged with one shoulder, a playful smile on his face. Other Warblers appeared from behind, dancing along and providing backup vocals.

**When I first saw you  
** **From across the room  
** **I could tell that you were curious (oh, yeah)**

He looked straight at Kurt for the next lines, perhaps the longest two seconds of Kurt’s life.

**Boy, I hope you’re sure  
** **What you're looking for  
** **'Cause I'm not good at making promises**

 **But if you like causing trouble up in hotel rooms  
** **And if you like having secret little rendezvous  
** **If you like to do the things you know that we shouldn’t do  
** **Then baby, I'm perfect  
** **Baby, I'm perfect for you**

Everyone started clapping to the rhythm of the song and Sebastian laughed out loud.

**And if you like midnight driving with the windows down  
** **And if you like going places we can’t even pronounce  
** **If you like to do whatever you've been dreaming about**

 **Baby, you're perfect  
** **Baby, you're perfect  
** **So let's start right now**

He walked to one side of the stage. Kurt couldn’t see him well, but he could watch the screens while he remembered driving around LA, singing in French with Sebastian.

**I might never be the hands you put your heart in  
** **Or the arms that hold you any time you want them  
** **But that don’t mean that we can’t live here in the moment  
** **'Cause I can be the one you love from time to time**

Sebastian walked toward the other side of the stage. He took one second on his way to blow a kiss toward the audience in general. He glanced at Kurt again.

**When I first saw you  
** **From across the room  
** **I could tell that you were curious (oh, yeah)  
** **Boy, I hope you’re sure  
** **What you're looking for  
** **'Cause I'm not good at making promises**

He stood in front of a group of fans with signs that seemed to be for him and he sang the next part pointing at them.

**But if you like causing trouble up in hotel rooms  
** **And if you like having secret little rendezvous  
** **If you like to do the things you know that we shouldn’t do  
** **Baby, I'm perfect  
** **Baby, I'm perfect for you**

Kurt couldn’t help but think of the long conversations with Sebastian in his hotel room late at night. Having dinner just the previous night with him and the rest of the guys. Sebastian's body very close to him in the middle of the stairs. Letting himself fall in love without realizing it.

**And if you like midnight driving with the windows down  
** **And if you like going places we can’t even pronounce  
** **If you like to do whatever you've been dreaming about  
** **Baby, you're perfect  
** **Baby, you're perfect  
** **So let's start right now**

Sebastian was dancing freely. He was being silly, playful, flirty, and the audience was eating it up. Kurt was eating it up. And this couldn’t be good for his decision to stop his advances.

**And if you like cameras flashing every time we go out  
** **And if you're looking for someone to write your breakup songs about  
** **Baby, I'm perfect  
** **Baby, _we're perfect_**

For the last chorus, the Warblers just started to jump and do cartwheels, and the lights blinked in different colors. Kurt tried to memorize every single detail.

**If you like causing trouble up in hotel rooms**   
**And if you like having secret little rendezvous**   
**If you like to do the things you know that we shouldn't do**   
**Baby, I'm perfect**   
**Baby, I'm perfect for you**   
**And if you like midnight driving with the windows down**   
**And if you like going places we can't even pronounce**   
**If you like to do whatever you've been dreaming about**

Sebastian ran and he finally got to the center of the stage to sing the last lines, almost breathless.

**Baby, you're perfect  
Baby, you're perfect  
So let's start right now**

He stood there, smiling and sweaty, his chest going up and down, just like the previous night.

_I love you,_ thought Kurt.

He was royally fucked.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

They took some minutes to prepare the stage for Blaine’s song. Burt got impatient and Carole tried to distract him with some chit chat. Kurt tried to contribute to the conversation, but his heart and his mind were elsewhere. It was then that he noticed his phone was going off like crazy, and he frowned.

His cellphone had five missed calls from Santana, which was strange. But he got distracted when he saw Sebastian had texted him.

**I hope you liked it.**

Kurt didn't know what to reply to that, so he wrote the only thing that he could say and mean it.

_Thank you._

The lights finally dimmed down again, and Blaine appeared on stage wearing a yellow suit, which was… not his Dalton uniform. That was weird. Kurt got a shiver and frowned when the song started.

[[Rude - Magic!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIh2xe4jnpk)]

_Saturday morning jumped out of bed  
_ _And put on my best suit_

Kurt snorted, glaring at the hideous yellow suit.

_Got in my car and raced like a jet  
_ _All the way to you_

That was a weird song to sing at a show, but alright.

_Knocked on your door with heart in my hand  
_ _To ask you a question  
_ _'Cause I know that you're an old-fashioned man, yeah_

And then Blaine pointed at Burt. He. He pointed at Burt.

_Can I have your daughter for the rest of my life?  
_ _Say yes, say yes 'cause I need to know  
_ _You say I'll never get your blessing 'til the day I die  
_ _Tough luck, my friend, but the answer is 'No'_

Kurt just sat there, frozen, not knowing what was going on. Blaine approached the edge of the stage and kneeled down to keep singing at Burt.

_Why you gotta be so rude?  
_ _Don't you know I'm human too?  
_ _Why you gotta be so rude?  
_ _I'm gonna marry her anyway_

This time Blaine pointed at him, and a camera turned to Kurt. Suddenly, his panicked face was all over the giant screens.

_Marry that girl  
_ _Marry her anyway  
_ _Marry that girl  
_ _Yeah, no matter what you say  
_ _Marry that girl  
_ _And we'll be a family  
_ _Why you gotta be so  
_ _Rude_ _?_

Blaine jumped off the stage. The people around went crazy, running toward him, screaming, trying to get closer while the security guards tried to protect him. He stopped in front of Kurt and Burt.

_I hate to do this, you leave no choice  
_ _Can't live without her  
_ _Love me or hate me we will be both  
_ _Standing at that altar_

Blaine reached for his hand. Kurt was paralyzed. He only felt how his hand was taken by Blaine’s.

_Or we will run away  
_ _To another galaxy, you know  
_ _You know she's in love with me  
_ _She will go anywhere I go_

He let go of Kurt’s hand and turned to Burt again.

_Can I have your daughter for the rest of my life?  
_ _Say yes, say yes 'cause I need to know  
_ _You say I'll never get your blessing 'til the day I die  
_ _Tough luck, my friend, 'cause the answer's still 'No'_

 _Why you gotta be so rude?  
_ _Don't you know I'm human too?  
_ _Why you gotta be so rude?  
_ _I'm gonna marry her anyway_

Burt seemed as dumfounded as Kurt. He couldn’t react, he didn’t move a muscle in his face while Blaine jumped around his seat. People in the audience were calling him out, but he just sat there, frowning.

_Marry that girl  
_ _Marry her anyway  
_ _Marry that girl  
_ _No matter what you say  
_ _Marry that girl  
_ _And we'll be a family  
_ _Why you gotta be so_  
 _Rude_ _?  
_ _Rude_ _?_

At that moment, while everyone’s eyes were on them, Blane took a velvet box out of his pocket, opened it, and went down on one knee in front of Kurt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to those who are reading and commenting and leaving kudos. I honestly expected nothing much. I'm so happy, I want to write Kurtbastian forever :(


	9. You’re just like a pill (you keep making me ill)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here be some revelations.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you feel satisfied! :)

Kurt couldn’t remember what had happened exactly. Blaine had offered him the ring and he had flashes of it being on the palm of his hand, but not around his finger. He couldn’t do it, he couldn’t do that, not even for a contract, not even if his whole career depended on it.

He knew he had run away, but he didn’t remember if his dad was with him the whole time or if he found him later. He didn’t go back to the hotel, so he couldn’t understand how his bag was there with him, but it was, sitting in a corner in his childhood bedroom.

They had driven to Lima. There were cameras flashing at him while he tried to get out of that arena. He was pushed and pulled and he didn’t understand what was happening.

Then he was in his bed. It was morning. He was supposed to be in Columbus, having breakfast with his dad, laughing about the stupid contract, complaining about his auditions, and perhaps even sharing everything about Sebastian.

Instead, he had a headache, his eyes were dry, and he felt like never getting up.

Carole knocked on the door.

“Santana’s here,” she said in a soft voice.

“What?! She flew here?”

Carole nodded.

“Do you want us there with you? I have to warn you--your dad has some choice words to say.”

Kurt finally stood up. Burt appeared behind Carlole.

“I just want to tell that young lady that she shouldn’t have involved Kurt in this mess,” he said.

“Dad, Carole, if I may? I have to do this alone. I know you’re angry. I’m personally _furious._ But I dug this hole myself. I’ll deal with it.”

Burt was frowning, but he nodded.

“If you need me, I’ll be right here,” he said.

"We've got your back, Kurt," said Carole. 

Kurt hugged both of them. That gave him strength to get dressed.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

He saw them from the stairs. Santana had flown from LA with Brittany in tow. And she was the most angry Kurt had seen her in years. Really mad, not just usual-levels-of-anger-for-Santana.

“¡ _Si entendieras lo que te estoy diciendo, sabrías que te quiero cortar en pedacitos más chicos de lo que ya eres_!*” she was yelling, waving her Chanel handbag around in her fury.

(*If you understood what I’m saying, you’d know I’d like to cut you into pieces even smaller than you already are.)

When he entered the living room, he understood her rage. Blaine was sitting in the couch, looking as if he was afraid for his innocent life. Kurt felt an honest impulse to go and strangle him.

“Why is he here?” he asked, sharply.

“He was hiding in the bushes,” explained Brittany.

Kurt didn’t feel like asking more questions.

“OK,” said Santana. “I’m going to come out and say it. Lord Farquaad over there _cannot_ under any circumstances force you to marry him.”

Blaine grimaced and stood up.

“It could be a long engagement! We could call it off in some years!”

“Years?!” cried Kurt.

“He wished,” yelled Santana. “The contract was for one year, dummy. You can’t lay a thought on Kurt beyond that.”

Blaine turned to Kurt.

“Kurt, baby, please…”

“Baby?” questioned Santana and Kurt at the same time.

“I know it seems rushed. But I also know that you feel the same way.”

“What?!”

“I know you’ve been falling for me all this time. Kurt, please… Let’s just break the contract and keep going. This time for real.”

Kurt laughed out loud, at a loss.

Blaine froze.

“Wait, you’re serious. Your actually, honestly, completely serious.”

“Of course I am!” cried Blaine.

Kurt went quiet and his face lost all color.

Santana must have taken his silence as a love confession, because she jumped in.

“ _Ni madres*._ I’m not letting this happen. I kept quiet because I didn’t want Kurt to punch you in your ugly mug and get us all in trouble, but this is it. I have soooo much dirt on you, I’m gonna bury you right here,” she spat. “Wanna tell Kurt why you asked him to follow you around on tour?”

(*No fucking way.)

“I wanted to spend more time with you,” said Blaine immediately. His eyes were big and seemingly honest.

“Wrong,” said Santana, with an evil grin. “Kurt, Frodo knew you were auditioning for that movie that’s being shot… well, right now.”

She raised an eyebrow. Blaine paled and sat down.

“I—”

“And he knew it because he auditioned for the role too. And he couldn’t get it because one, he’s talentless, and two, they sprang the tour dates on him. So he decided that if he wasn’t getting it, no one was, especially not Kurt Hummel, his doting, doting fake boyfriend. That would look bad on his Wiki page, aw, sad.”

“What?!” cried Kurt, truly astonished. He turned to face Blaine.

“He ruined your chance,” she said. “I only kept quiet because I didn’t want you to hate him for the remainder of the contract. I was going to wait it out before I killed him, but I’m not anymore.”

“I’ll ask Lord Tubbington to hide the body,” intervened Brittany, calmly. She was now comfortably sat in the armchair.

Kurt didn’t know how to feel or what to do.

“Why would you do that?” he asked Blaine, hating how his voice was breaking.

“I’m so sorry, Kurt. It was a stupid thing to do, and I regretted it the moment it happened, I did… I’m—”

“That’s not all,” sing-songed Santana, stopping his rambling. “I know why this Oompa Loompa proposed to you, and it’s not out of love _at all._ I’m sorry if I’m breaking your heart, babe, but this needs to be done,” she added.

Kurt shook his head.

“You’re not breaking my heart, don’t worry. Out with it.”

Santana’s shark-like smile appeared.

“Why don’t _you_ tell the class yourself, Dani DeVito?”

Blaine looked at her with his eyes wide open.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Pfff,” said Santana. “Rule number one: Santana knows everything.”

“Everything,” repeated Brittany, nodding.

Blaine decided to stick to his version and started another long explanation, but she cut him off.

“Nah,” she said. “I’m done with you. He proposed because he’s in trouble. Apparently Napoleon here fancies himself a porn star. He likes to record himself having sex. And he was stupid enough not to notice that someone had made a copy of his tape. And now he’s being _blackmailed_ , which is hilarious by the way. They’re manipulating the manipulator. When is the video coming out, Thumbelina? Today?”

Kurt didn’t know how to react, so he just stood there, with his arms crossed, his eyes wide open, and his jaw down.

“So what does he do?” asked Santana. “Does he try to deal with the situation like an adult, accepting his responsibility and not involving anyone innocent? Nah! He tries to divert attention by proposing to his sweet, innocent, FAKE boyfriend. Oh, and by the way, he just picked this specific fake boyfriend because he was fucking desperate to preserve his goody-two-shoes public image and he needed someone who looked innocent enough to help,” she scoffed.

Blaine, at least, was decent enough to avoid everyone’s eyes and look at the floor.

“Now go on, Hummel. You can punch him wherever you want. I’ll hold him for you.”

Santana sounded serious, so Kurt had to intervene.

“Wait. Wait. I don’t want any violence.”

"Stop the violence," said Brit. 

Santana scoffed.

“Not the fucking ‘teach him a lesson’ thing again. _Me lleva la chingada_ *.”

(* _Fuck me sideways_.)

Kurt ignored her, walked toward Blaine and stood right in front of him. The other boy jerked away, as if afraid that Kurt was really going to physically hurt him. That made Kurt sick. He was by no means close to Blaine, but he’d hoped that the guy knew the bare basics about him at least.

That decided it.

“I want to make a deal,” he said.

Blaine looked up, confused.

“A deal?”

“Yes,” said Kurt. “Santana will help you with your sex tape problem—”

“Santana will WHAT?” she yelled.

“I’ll pretend nothing happened yesterday,” continued Kurt. “And we’ll say we’ve sadly broken up. Amicably. Not now, that’d be bad for both our images. But let’s say a month from now. We’ll say the life on the road was too hard for our blooming relationship.”

“But the contract—”

“That’s the deal, precisely,” said Kurt. “We do away with the contract. Take it or leave it.”

“My team—”

“For fuck’s sake,” interrupted Santana.

Kurt raised his hand.

“If I may? I know you hide behind ‘your team’ for every little tantrum you want to throw, Blaine” he explained, calmly. “And I’m not letting you get away with it anymore. I respected you as a person and for a crazy moment I thought we were friends. But I don’t think so anymore. So, weigh your options.”

Blaine sat in silence. Kurt turned and quietly begged Santana to wait. She was fuming, but fortunately, she complied.

“This is boring,” said Brittany, after a minute of silence.

“You can go upstairs and raid my old closet, what do you say?” said Kurt, trying to win Santana’s favor.

Brittany’s face lightened up, she stood up, and left them alone. There was more silence, but Santana seemed a little calmer.

After a while, Blaine sighed.

“OK,” he said. “So we’ll cancel the contract and pay what’s due or…?”

Santana smiled again.

“There’s a tiny clause that says that if both of you agree to cut it short nothing happens, no one pays.”

Kurt looked at her in awe.

Blaine covered his face with his hands.

“OK. OK. Will you really help me out?” he asked Santana.

She glared at him.

“Just let me be clear,” she said. “From one bitch to another. All of this vicious, underhanded crap has got to stop.”

“I’ll do better!” said Blaine. “I’ll do, I promise.”

“Starting now,” she said, pointing at Kurt.

Blaine nodded, and looked at Kurt. His eyers were wide and sad.

“I’m so, so sorry, Kurt.”

Kurt breathed in deeply.

“I’ll let you know when I really, truly forgive you,” he decided to say.

“That’s fair enough,” he replied, letting his shoulders fall.

“Brit’s right. This got really boring,” said Santana. “Out you go, dumbass. We’ve got work to do,” she ordered.

Blaine stood up and walked to the door. He seemed to want to say something else, but Santana pushed him out and closed the door in his face.

“Wait for me there,” she yelled.

Then she turned to Kurt, pulled him away from the door and whispered.

“So, do you really want me to help him with the sex tape thing or—?”

Kurt nodded.

“Do as much as you can,” he pleaded. “Even if it’s not for Blaine. The other guy on the tape…”

“Sam Evans,” she said.

“Oh god… this could damage his modeling career, it could be awful!”

“Don’t think so. As he’s the one threatening to release it,” she grinned. "Just don't tell Anderson."

Kurt blinked.

“He is?” he whispered, looking at the door in shock. “Oh my god.”

“Yeah. He called me. Sweet guy. Has a huuuge mouth, and that's not a metaphor. He was afraid Blaine could be hurting you. He knew what a bastard he could be, so he did this.”

Kurt was dumbstruck.

"He blackmailed Blaine to get me out of the contract?"

“I might or might not have given him the idea,” she added, looking at her nails. “Got tired of that bitch.”

Kurt just… laughed. Laughed like he hadn't done in ages. He released so much tension just there.

“So this Sebastian guy must have a really big dick,” she said then, conversationally.

“What?!” asked Kurt, flushing.

She leered.

“You risked a lot, going for that deal. And you won, so I’m not complaining. I’m just saying he must have really _gotten into you._ ”

Kurt decided to laugh it off, and shook his head, embarrassed.

“Nothing has happened, but a lot can happen. And he’s… I think he’s worth it.”

Santana nodded.

“Must be, not everyone would be OK with this whole ‘my boyfriend has a fake boyfriend’ situation.”

Kurt paled and his world collapsed again.

“Oh my god, Santana. Sebastian doesn’t know about this.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're almost there! I hope you liked it! As I said, this fic is already finished on my drive, but if you awesome readers have any petitions about what you want to read for their happily-ever-after, feel free to drop me a line :)


	10. Blow me (one last kiss)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The title says it all.

Santana left, taking Brittany and Blaine with her to allow Kurt to solve a much more pressing matter.

He tried calling Sebastian’s number, but he got sent to voicemail again and again. He tried texting, but he didn’t get a response either.

Desperate, he opened Twitter and sent him a message. While he waited, he scrolled his feed. He reckoned maybe some fan would tweet if the Warblers were still at the hotel or if they had already left. He ignored everything related to the proposal, too disturbed to even stop to look at the pictures of himself.

What he didn’t expect to see were a series of paparazzi photos of Sebastian leaving the hotel—he was trying to cover his face with his hand, without much success. He looked raggedy, unshaved, and his eyes were blotchy. He uncovered his face to reach for his sunglasses and put them on, but that only left him vulnerable to pictures of his devastated face.

“Fuck,” said Kurt, which was something to say for someone who avoided cursing.

He tried calling him again, to no avail. He kept scrolling, sick to his stomach as he read some awful comments.

**kkiiss99:**

lol, someone’s not happy blaine’s getting married

**avocadoxb_k1:**

i hope klaine have beautiful babies that grow up to punch this asshole in the face lmao

Kurt got fucking angry, even more so when he remembered that he didn’t have access to his official account and he couldn’t do anything.

Then, suddenly, a tweet caught his attention.

**TeamBasFTW:**

baby looks so sad [crying face] I hope he’s going to his parents’ in Westerville he needs a huuuug

Kurt jumped up.

He rang Santana.

“Yeah?” she answered.

“Santana, please tell me you can get people’s addresses. Legally.”

“Pfff,” she said. “Of course not. But I can do it illegally. What do you need?”

“An address in Westerville for the Smythes.”

“On it,” she said. “Get on your way, I’ll text you.”

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

He gave his dad a short version of everything that was going on and promised to bring Sebastian to meet him one day. He hoped he could keep that promise. Then he asked his dad for the keys to his old SUV, and to his surprise, he received them without much fuss.

He drove all the way to Westerville before he received Santana’s text with the complete address. He drove there, parked, and breathed in and out, trying to regain control. This was the craziest thing he’d done for someone and he was afraid of being rejected. But Sebastian had done pretty crazy things for him, so there was that.

He called again and again. Sebastian didn’t answer. He sent a message.

_please, please tell me you are at your parents’_

There was no response.

He was getting desperate, but then he received a new text from Santana with a phone number. He called it without thinking twice.

It rang three times. Kurt was shaking.

“Hello?” said Sebastian’s raspy voice.

“Sebastian!”

His heart raced again.

“Kurt?” he asked, disbelief clear in his voice. “How—?”

“Please tell me you’re in Westerville.”

“I—I am. You’re calling my house. What’s going on?”

“Can you come outside?”

“What’s happening?”

“Please come outside.”

Kurt got out of his car, hoping to be parked in front of the right house. It had a big garden with beautiful flowers planted all around, and a sports car parked in the garage. However, everything else about it was your average upper-middle class house. It felt welcoming in a weird way. He bit his lip. He hoped he would be welcomed, at least.

Sebastian appeared at the door and peeked outside. When he saw Kurt, his face filled with shock. He came outside. He was in black oversized sweatpants and a white t-shirt. He wasn’t wearing any shoes, but he seemed to realize that only when he was already walking toward him—he made a face when he felt the grass under his socks.

“You’re here,” he said, astonished. “You’re really here. I thought you’d sent a—I don’t know, a package or I’m-sorry flowers,” he explained.

“I _am_ here,” said Kurt. He wanted to say more, but his traitorous crying nature was getting the best of him again.

“Why are you here? I thought—Yesterday—”

“I can explain. Can we go inside?” he asked, shyly.

Sebastian winced.

“I don’t think my mom would like to see you. It’s been a long couple of hours full of me venting and bitching, you know?”

Kurt winced with him.

“Yeah… but you could tell her that I’m here to be absolutely open with her son, starting with the fact that I am no longer attached to Blaine in any way, and perhaps you could even tell her that I’m falling for him… for you.”

Sebastian just kept looking at him with his mouth open.

“I thought this was the most elaborate revenge plot I’d fallen for,” he said at last. “But now I’m not sure what’s going on.”

“You’re being slow today,” teased Kurt.

“You’re weird every day and I say nothing at all,” rebutted Sebastian.

Kurt giggled, nervous, when he realized they were kind of flirting again, in their unique way.

“But you _like_ my kind of weird,” he said confidently, even though he knew was blushing. "You told me so. I like your kind of weird, too."

Sebastian shook his head, still disbelieving.

“I don't get it,” he said, in a serious tone. “You're saying you like me. You like _me._ No buts or ifs and no surprise marriages.”

“Absolutely no surprise marriages,” he replied, firmly. “And I do like you. I like you _so_ much. I’ve never liked anyone this much. And I can assure you no one has liked me as much as you.”

Sebastian snorted.

“Yeah, sure.”

“You’ll see when you get the whole story,” he said.

Sebastian messed with his hair. It was already messy, so he just made it much worse. He looked adorable.

“Fine, come in. Let's talk. But if you see a 5,3” woman, run for your life.”

“Oh, she’s taller than Blaine?”

Sebastian guffawed.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

They went to Sebastian’s room. His mother did watch them go upstairs and glared at Kurt from the living room, but she didn’t say anything. Sebastian closed his door and offered Kurt a desk chair or his bed while he changed his socks. Kurt didn't sit, so they ended up standing there awkwardly instead.

Sebastian was playing with his hands nervously, which never happened. Kurt looked at them, lost in every detail. He was ready.

“I’m going to tell you about the most stupid thing I’ve done in my life,” said Kurt. “And that includes the time I wore 10-inch platform stiletto heels to school.”

Sebastian met his eyes, confused.

“OK,” was all he said.

“If after all I say you still… you still want to… what you said the other night, then… Yeah,” he stumbled upon his own words, extremely nervous now that he had Sebastian’s eyes on him.

Sebastian’s only response was to nod. They ended up sitting side by side on the bed, some inches apart. Kurt breathed in deeply, and started the long, convoluted story of his fake relationship. He tried to be as honest as possible, explaining his fears and his reasoning behind all the lies. He felt terrible, telling this awesome boy to his face that he’d been deceiving him.

When he finished, he felt helpless. If he were in Sebastian’s place, he’d never trust Kurt ever again.

So it came as a surprise when Sebastian touched his shoulder.

“So you’re telling me you’re not with Blaine. You’re not in love with Blaine, you’ve _never_ been in love with Blaine, and you don’t even _like_ Blaine right now.”

Kurt bit his lip and nodded, remorsefully.

“And you two didn’t have an open relationship. You don’t do open relationships.”

Kurt shook his head.

"The idea is just awful. I could never do it."

Sebastian smirked leaned in a bit more.

“I fucking knew it. OK. And just to be super clear. You’re here because you _do_ like me. This is you giving me the chance I asked for.”

Kurt nodded once more.

“Thank fuck,” whispered Sebastian.

Next thing he knew, Kurt was on his back on the bed and Sebastian was all over him kissing him with a passion Kurt had never met before. He barely got his brain to cooperate so he could kiss back. But there was something stopping him.

"I felt awful lying to you," tried to say Kurt, interrupting the kiss. Sebastian took the chance to kiss and bite his neck instead. "I promise I'm not a liar, I like you, I really like you, I'm not gonna lie to you anymore, I promise." 

"Kurt?" interrupted Sebastian. He left his neck alone, hold his weight on his arms and looked at him in the eyes. "I like you too. And I believe you. This is also me giving you a chance," he explained in a soft voice. His eyes were bright and sincere.

"Thank fuck," repeated Kurt. 

His hands went automatically to Sebastian’s head to bring him down again and kiss him with all his heart. He messed his hair up even more, satisfied. This time, he let himself close his eyes and just feel Sebastian’s hands all over his body, and smell his apple shampoo, and taste his lips and his tongue, and hear their labored breaths as they finally let go.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

**Some weeks later**

They woke up together on the day of the show in New York. The first thing Sebastian saw when he opened his eyes were the flowers Kurt had brought him to wish him good look. He grinned like an idiot. Then he frowned when he realized he’d have to leave the bed. He didn’t want to let go of Kurt, but he had to start preparing for rehearsals. He groaned.

“What’s going on?” asked Kurt, sleepy and grumpy and adorable and hot.

“ _Je ne veux pas travailler_ ,” replied Sebastian, pouting. (I don’t want to work.)

“Mhm… _mais tu dois_.” (But you have to.)

“ _Je veux rester avec toi.”_ (I want to stay with you.)

“ _Je veux toujours rester avec toi_ ,” whispered Kurt. (I want to stay with you forever.)

“ _Je veux te baiser une autre fois_.” (I want to fuck you again.)

“Sebastian!” complained Kurt, holding back his laughter. “I thought we were having a moment!”

“A _horny_ moment,” said Sebastian. “You’re here, naked in my bed. We're all alone in a nice hotel room. How did you expect me to feel?”

Kurt was blushing, but he didn’t avoid Sebastian’s eyes. In fact, he meet them eagerly.

“You’ll have to leave soon,” he warned.

“I could call in sick. Sorry, bosses, too horny to sing,” he whispered, just before straddling Kurt and leaning down to kiss him.

They were panting by the time he broke the kiss. He only stopped so he could look for the lube they’d lost beneath the pillows the previous night.

“Where the fuck is it.”

Kurt found it before he did and reached to get it. Sebastian took advantage of that to kiss his biceps fervently, making him giggle. God, Kurt’s arms were so hot.

“Do we really have time?” he asked.

“Kurt, I’m going to be honest here,” he said “Getting you off is way more important than my fucking job and I’m not just saying that.”

That made Kurt blush, but he also went pliant under him. Much better.

He kissed his lips again. Then he kissed his chin and his sensitive neck, making him moan. He went down and kissed his nipples, loving how Kurt’s back tensed instantly. He kept going down, and down, until he kissed his tummy. By then, Kurt was panting again.

“Can I blow you?” he asked.

“What a stupid question,” replied Kurt.

Sebastian smirked and went to town. He honestly wasn’t a fan of giving head until Kurt. Before him it was a favor he had to return. With Kurt, it was a way to make him go crazy. Kurt moaned and shivered and cried out loud when it was too much. Sebastian's favorite part was when he took his dick out of his mouth and teased the tip of it with his tongue. Kurt got so mad that he lost control--he pulled his hair and forced his cock back into Sebastian’s mouth. And it was glorious.

His other favorite part was when he covered his fingers in lube and fingered Kurt while he sucked him off. He loved it even more when he found evidence from their previous night between his legs.

His other favorite part was how competitive Kurt was. Yes, he allowed Sebastian to take over him, and he received his fingers and his mouth with enthusiasm, and he came in his mouth with a beautiful cry. But then he pushed Sebastian and made him almost fall from the bed in his haste to return the favor. A glance from Kurt made Sebastian open his legs with an eagerness he hadn’t possessed before. (He swore he felt like he would open his legs for Kurt in any situation.) And then it was Sebastian’s turn to fist the sheets while Kurt looked up with his mouth full of cock, his unbelievable eyes glassy with pleasure.

“Fuck,” cried Sebastian.

Fuck. Kurt was learning his weaknesses way too fast. Fuck. He loved it. Fuck, everything was his favorite part.

He pulled his own hair when the pleasure was too much, and he came. Hard.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

"We could visit Central Park tomorrow, or we could take a look at NYU," said Kurt. His eyes were closed, and his cheeks still red.

"Mhm," was all Sebastian was able to say. 

They were cuddling in bed, paying no mind to how late it was. Sebastian was hopeful for another hard-on soon. This really was a wet dream come true and he wanted to take advantage of it.

But then his phone started buzzing

“Shit,” he said.

Kurt groaned. “Told you it was late.”

Sebastian managed to find his phone without leting go of Kurt. When he read the first of many messages he frowned.

“What happens?” asked Kurt, his face a bit worried.

“Did you give Santana Lopez my private number?”

Kurt groaned again and hid his face in the pillow.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

Sebastian opened the door to let Santana in. Kurt was sitting on the bed, with a pillow by his side.

“Good morning, Brangelina! How are you this beautiful day?”

She looked around the hotel room. They had taken a shower and they had tried to arrange the bed, but their uncomfortable faces and wet hair gave away what they had been doing.

“Oh, wanky,” she said in glee.

Kurt shied away, covering his face with a pillow. Sebastian rolled his eyes.

“Let’s be very clear. Kurt and I just had sex. For future reference, assume that every time you see us we’ll have had sex, and don’t make any comments about it. Also, is this going to take long? I’m already one hour late.”

Santana leered, but she didn’t say anything more about their sex life.

“Chill, Angelina, I'm just here to help you plan ahead,” she said, instead. 

Kurt seemed to finally understand the reference. He paled.

“Oh sweet goodness. I refuse to be Brad Pitt in this scenario. I refuse to be Brad Pitt in _any_ scenario,” he said, indignant.

Sebastian got it too. But he smirked.

“I don’t mind my role. Is everyone going to hate me and call me a bitch? Wow, imagine that. Can’t relate.”

Santana swept Sebastian's body from head to toe.

“I like this one,” she said in the end. “Let’s keep him. He’ll need that attitude to survive.”

“Is it going to be awful?” asked Kurt, instantly worried.

“It’s going to be a PR nightmare,” said Santana, cheerfully.

Kurt and Sebastian looked at her in disbelief.

“What?” she said. “I love my job, get over it. Now, Brad, check that you have regained access to your social media accounts.”

“I refuse to be Brad. And I refuse even more to let Blaine be Jennifer Aniston,” repeated Kurt stubbornly, but he obeyed.

He got his phone, logged into twitter and started checking that everything was fine.

“You can be my Jen. We can be Jengelina,” said Sebastian, kissing his temple.

Kurt snorted, but also smiled softly at him. Then he made a double take on his screen. And then he grimaced.

“Oh god.”

“What?” said Sebastian, worried.

“Is it normal for your social media handler to… sext from your DMs?” he asked, aghast.

Santana and Sebastian burst into laughter. Kurt just grimaced in disgust.

"Let me see!"

Sebastian extended his hand to ask for his phone. Kurt was too perturbed to do anything else, so he gave him it.

“Are you an astronaut? Because your ass is out of this world,” he read out loud.

“Oh god, no!" 

“Can you moan my name into my voicemail?” continued Sebastian. “I want to make your voice my ringtone.”

Kurt groaned and covered his face with the pillow again. Santana and Sebastian smirked and said at the same time:

“He has no game.”

They looked at each other, appreciatively. 

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

Sebastian arrived extremely late and by himself. The vans that had taken the rest of the Warblers to the venue had gotten there at least two hours beforehand.

The Madison Square Garden was even more imposing now that they were performing there for the end of the American leg of the tour. Everyone had left their backpacks in the changing rooms, so Sebastian did the same. Then he joined them for rehearsals and soundcheck. They all glared at him when they saw him, but he shrugged it off. Everyone was more nervous than usual because everything needed to be perfect for that final night. They had some really important guests, and they were being recorded for a documentary / live concert DVD.

At the beginning of the tour no one expected the levels of success they had had. The shows were sold out, and more shows needed to be added, and the tour had been twice as long as originally planned. This was their last show in their country, but they were already booked for shows in Canada, the UK, Brazil, Mexico, and Japan. It was completely crazy, and Sebastian couldn’t believe this was his life.

They were rehearsing for _I Want You Back_ when he got there. He was just going with the flow, doing what they had choreographed basically on autopilot. When they finished, Blaine offered him some water and smiled at him.

Sebastian blinked.

“Thanks,” he said.

Blaine was a weird boy, and he acted randomly all the time, so Sebastian didn’t get worried about him until later that night, when they were singing _Do You Think I’m Sexy_ during the actual show, and Blaine wouldn’t stop dancing _at him._ Sebastian did his best to keep in character, but he was really struggling to sing with Blaine when he had that really weird face on him.

They all left the stage for one of Blaine’s solo speeches when a shy Brent approached him. Sebastian had never been approached by the other cast members voluntarily, so that was new.

“Hey,” he said. “I saw what Blaine was doing, and you looked uncomfortable. Do you want me to tell him something?”

Sebastian was pleasantly surprised by this random act of kindness.

“Thank you Brent, it’s nothing I can’t deal with… But, you know what? It might be good if someone else tells him to tone it down. They’re recording this. I don’t want to come across as a douchebag, but it _is_ creeping me out a little.”

Brent smiled at him and nodded.

“Don’t worry. I gotcha.”

He turned to leave, but then he turned around again.

“Hey, I know we’ve never been super close, but lately we’ve noticed that you won’t talk to us at all,” he looked around.

There were other guys there, overhearing the conversation—Jeff, Nick, Wes, David, and Thad.

Sebastian didn’t know what to say without making it even more awkward.

“I’m…sorry, I’ve been really busy, and I thought… well, you’ve never said anything before.”

Trent seemed nervous.

“Well, you were always kind of distant and, to be honest, a bit rude. So…”

Sebastian nodded.

“Yeah, I know I can be a bitch sometimes. Sorry about that.”

“Nah,” intervened Jeff. “You were never really mean to us, just distant. You even helped Nick with all those surprise numbers he was so nervous about.”

Nick nodded enthusiastically.

“I guess we just never gave each other a chance to get closer. Not really,” said Wes.

Sebastian looked at them.

“I guess so,” he said. “But we’ll have some time now that we’re going international!” he said.

Everyone cheered. Blaine’s speech finished and they went back on stage.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

He should’ve known something was going to happen. When the show finished and everyone was sweaty and happy and jumping around, he tried to go to the changing rooms, but the other Warblers kept him from going away. He had attempted to escape again and again, trying hard not to be rude now that they had reached a truce.

They finally let him go when Blaine appeared beside him and touched his arm to ask him to talk.

Sebastian raised an eyebrow.

“Talk,” he repeated. “You want to talk with me.”

Blaine nodded shyly, playing up the bashful act that once upon a time had made Sebastian’s knees weak.

He shrugged and let Blaine take him back to the stage. The guys from the crew were already working hard there, but Blaine ignored them.

“I want you to know some things,” said Blaine.

He seemed excited. Sebastian tried to tone down his usual _bitch, please_ face.

“OK, go on.”

“First of all, I’ve told the Warblers that I’m not mad at you anymore. And that everything was a big misunderstanding and that we should all be friends.”

Sebastian wanted to facepalm. He _knew_ it. The Warblers just didn’t want to be buddies out of thin air. _Blaine_ had had to say something so they would feel comfortable talking to Sebastian. He sighed. 

“I guess you want me to say thanks,” he said.

“That’s not all,” Blaine went on. “I don’t know if you’ve heard, but I’ve broken up with Kurt.”

Now Sebastian was having a déjà vu. This conversation was eerily similar to one they’d had about a certain Sam Evans. He decided to go with the flow.

“Don’t say.”

He tried to act surprised, but he was tired of this bullshit.

“We haven’t said anything to the media yet, but It was mutual,” said Blaine. “I’m telling you this because I saw your pictures. The ones that came up after I proposed to Kurt.”

Sebastian was about to explode, in three, two… Kurt appeared right behind Blaine, weighed the situation and pointed to his back. “Should I go?” he gestured. Sebastian raised a finger to let him know he should wait a second.

“…you must have been heartbroken,” Blaine was saying.

He had kept on talking, but Sebastian was done. He opened his mouth to speak, only to have Blaine interrupt.

“So this is me, telling you that it’s over, and that you can ask me again.”

“Ask what again?”

He was lost and getting angrier by the second.

Blaine looked downwards, trying to be coy or something.

“About going out with you.”

This time, Sebastian couldn’t help but snort.

“Yeah, no. Not gonna happen ever again,” he said.

That made Blaine look up.

“What?” he asked, confused. “But you’re always…”

“Following you around like a lost puppy? Begging you to give me a chance? Come on, wake up, I haven’t even looked at you in months. You can’t be that stupid.”

Blaine’s expression closed off immediately. He got mad, and when he got mad he threw tantrums and punches. Sebastian knew that because he’d had to spend too much time with him, so he stepped away. He glanced at Kurt, hoping that Blaine hadn't seen him. He didn't want this to escalate and hurt him. He'd been afraid something like this would happen.

“Sebastian? Are you alright?” yelled Mark, one of the guys from the crew, who had noticed the commotion.

Sebastian turned toward him. He felt safe, surrounded by his people. He felt strong.

“You know what Mark? Remember that song I joked about?”

“The P!ink song?” he asked.

“Yeah,” he confirmed. “Can you do your thing?”

He didn't have to ask twice. 

Blaine was taken off guard by the song that blared from the speakers not two seconds later.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

Sebastian started singing, at a distance form Blaine. He was seriously done, so he projected his bitchiness into this.

[[Blow Me (One Last Kiss) - P!nk, MikeSquillante cover](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PX_tN85oEyg) ]

**White knuckles and sweaty palms from hanging on too tight  
** **Clenched shut jaw, I've got another headache again tonight**

Behind Blaine, Kurt joined in.

**_Eyes on fire, eyes on fire, and they burn from all the tears  
_** **_I've been crying, I've been crying, I've been dying over you  
_ ** **_Tie a knot in the rope, tryin' to hold, tryin' to hold,  
_ ** **_But there's nothing to grasp so I let go_ ** ****

Sebastian put his hands up, as if giving up. Blaine turned toward Kurt, gaping. Kurt took the chance to stand in front of him, look him down and sing the chorus.

_I think I've finally had enough, I think I maybe think too much  
_ _I think this might be it for us--blow me one last kiss_

Sebastian touched Blaine’s shoulder and made him turn to him for his part.

**You think I'm just too serious, I think you're full of shit  
** **My head is spinning, so blow me one last kiss**

He blew a kiss toward him. Blaine frowned and took a step to leave. Both Kurt and Sebastian started going around him, preventing his escape.

Sebastian sang and Kurt responded:

**Just when it can't get worse, I've had a shit day** ( _NO!_ )  
 **Have you had a shit day?** ( _NO!_ ), **we've had a shit day** ( _NO!_ )

Then Kurt took a turn again:

 _I think that life's too short for this, I want back my ignorance and bliss  
_ _I think I've had enough of this, blow me one last kiss._

This time it was Kurt who blew him a kiss. Sebastian pressed his index on Blaine’s chest to get his attention and sang the next part with conviction.

**I won't miss all of the fighting that we always did,  
** **Take it in, I mean what I say when I say there is nothing left  
** **No more sick whiskey dick, no more battles for me  
** **You'll be calling a trick, 'cause you'll no longer sleep  
** **I'll dress nice, I'll look good, I'll go dancing alone  
** **I will laugh, I'll get drunk, I'll take somebody home**

Sebastian glanced to his side and smirked at Kurt with the last line. They sang the chorus again, taking turns at singing to Blaine’s face.

**_I think I've finally had enough, I think I maybe think too much  
_** **_I think this might be it for us--blow me one last kiss  
_ ** **_You think I'm just too serious, I think you're full of shit  
_ ** **_My head is spinning, so blow me one last kiss_ **

Kurt stood in front of Blaine again and sang happily, finally free of the contract.

 _I will do what I please, anything that I want  
_ _I will breathe, I will breathe, I won't worry at all  
_ _You will pay for your sins, you'll be sorry my dear  
_ _All the lies, all the why's, will all be crystal clear_

Then they let him alone and sang the chorus to each other, laughing and making faces, just having fun with the song.

 **_I think I've finally had enough, I think I maybe think too much  
_** **_I think this might be it for us--blow me one last kiss  
_ ** **_You think I'm just too serious, I think you're full of shit  
_ ** **_My head is spinning, so blow me one last kiss_ **

**_Just when it can't get worse, I've had a shit day (No!)  
_** **_Have you had a shit day? (No!), we've had a shit day (No!)  
_ ** **_I think that life's too short for this, I want back my ignorance and bliss  
_ ** **_I think I've had enough of this--blow me one last kiss._ **

Sebastian took Kurt’s hand and twirled him around. When they turned to Blaine, he was gone. They laughed out loud.

“You think that was clear enough?”

“Well, we spoke his language, so…”

“Yeah, embarrassing song sung to your face. I guess it got the message home.”

They heard laughs from the guys that had actually been clearing up the stage while they sang. Only the speakers were still in place. To their surprise, another song came up.

[[Just Give Me A Reason - P!nk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpQFFLBMEPI) ]

_Right from the start_   
_You were a thief, you stole my heart_   
_And I... your willing victim_   
_I let you see the parts of me that weren't all that pretty_   
_And with every touch you fixed them_

Kurt’s face went soft.

“Our song,” he whispered.

Sebastian’s goofy grin couldn’t be erased.

“Our song?”

Kurt shrugged with one shoulder.

“One of our songs.”

Sebastian put his arms around Kurt’s waist.

“Come here,” he said. “We'll take advantage of our private DJs.”

That song had always been bittersweet for Sebastian. He associated it with Kurt since they had taken that first Uber. Later, he thought of Kurt when he heard it, of the morning he woke up with Kurt in his bed and no hopes of it happening again. Then he had sang the song for Kurt in an empty arena, and he'd received an unexpected answer. That was the push he needed to just _try_. Try to show him there could be something there. Try and ask Kurt for a chance. Then the song became hopeful.

Having him here in his arms, dancing slowly, the song became unexpectedly happy. 

Kurt rested his head on Sebastian’s shoulder.

Then he pulled Sebastian’s tie to get a kiss.

Yeah. Life was good. 

_Just give me a reason, just a little bit's enough_   
_Just a second we're not broken just bent, and we can learn to love again_   
_It's in the stars, it's been written in the scars on our hearts_   
_We're not broken just bent, and we can learn to love again_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :) I hope you liked this. There's only the epilogue to come...
> 
> I cannot thank you enough for reading my story. Really, it's given me so much happiness to get to share it with you. Your amazing comments have made my day every day <3


	11. Epilogue: Maybe we're perfect (Let’s start right now)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is just a ball of fluff and one or two surprises.

**Two weeks later**

Mercedes knocked on their door to let them know she had survived the awful rackety elevator they had in Kurt and Rachel’s building. Rachel herself opened the door with a smug smile.

“Hello! Come on in! I’m glad you’re here. Kurt said I couldn’t get everyone to come, and I told him, _of course_ I can do it,” she said, going for a kiss on the cheek. 

"Hello, Rachel," she said, rolling her eyes on the inside.

She kissed her cheek too and went in.

“--saw this doe-eyed angel at the red carpet, and I thought—Blaine’s going to eat him alive. I need to get him out of there.”

“—amazing how Jengelina dealt with him, to be honest.”

That was a male voice and then Santana’s voice she was hearing.

“Sorry, I didn’t realize I was late!” she said, as she entered the living room and saw everyone already there.

They turned to look at her and they waved, said hi, or blew kisses her way (in Kurt’s case). 

“How’s everyone?” she asked, taking the time to look at all the people squeezing into the small place.

First, she saw Santana, whose lap was full of a smiling Brittany. She went to say hi to both girls. Rachel went to sit next to them, still with her smug smile. Mercedes turned to the next person, a man she’d never seen before.

“Mercedes,” said Kurt. “That’s Sam Evans, a recent addition to this crazy family.”

Sam took a second to smile at Kurt, and then he immediately got up to greet Mercedes and give her a kiss on the cheek.

“Nice to meet you,” he said.

_Good manners_ , thought Mercedes. _That’s nice._

“Nice to meet you too! Welcome to our group of misfits.”

On the couch, he found Kurt holding hands with a man she’d never seen in person before. But this time she knew exactly who he was, because she had heard _a lot_ about him and she had stalked his instagram. (She needed to see if the guy was worthy of Kurt, sue her.)

“And you must be Sebastian,” she said, extending her hand.

Sebastian stood up to greet her too. She took advantage of the moment to look at him from head to toe. 

“Nice to finally meet you, Mercedes,” he said.

He leaned down to hug her by the shoulders, and she accepted it. For a moment, she considered giving him the Shovel Talk. But the poor guy had already met Santana. And he seemed to be dealing alright with Rachel. If he had stayed after meeting those two, it meant something.

Next, she turned to Kurt and went for a bear hug.

“Good job,” she whispered in his ear. “He’s even hotter in person.”

“T-thank you,” he said, with a nervous giggle. “I’m so happy you’re here. I’ve missed you so much.”

She let him go and gave him her brightest grin.

“I’m sorry. Who knew recording an album was so time-consuming,” she explained.

“You’re a singer?” asked Sebastian, interested.

“That I am,” she said. “My first album is coming up in the winter.”

“That sounds awesome!” intervened Sam. He was looking at her with admiration.

“Thanks! But what were we talking about?”

“Nothing important,” said Kurt.

He and Sebastian sat down again, but this time Sebastian sat on Kurt’s lap to make space for Mercedes.

“Thank you,” she said with a wink. “Then I have a question, Sebastian,” she said.

“Yes?” he replied, while making himself comfortable against Kurt's chest.

“How awkward will it be to kiss Blaine on screen now?”

Sebastian wrinkled his nose.

“I’ll only get to know that if I stay in that hell hole after the tour. I’m still not sure about that one. In any case, I don’t think the writers will pursue that line anymore. Everyone knows now that something happened and that I ‘stole’ Kurt. Most people are jumping off the Darren/Grant ship, as far as I know.”

“Most people are jumping off the Blaine/Blaine ship,” corrected Santana. “Even himself.”

And that was hot gossip that Mercedes needed to hear about.

**2 months later**

[[If I could fly - One Direction](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pe65gWJLxI)]

“ **If I could fly,** ” sang Sebastian on Skype. “ **I’d be coming right back home to you.** ”

“Bas,” sighed Kurt under his breath.

“ **I think I might give up everything just ask me to.**  
 **Pay attention, I hope that you listen 'cause I let my guard down**  
 **Right now I'm completely defenseless**

 **For your eyes only, I'll show you my heart**  
 **For when you're lonely and forget who you are**  
 **I'm missing half of me when we're apart**  
 **Now you know me, for your eyes only** ”

He stayed silent for some seconds.

“I miss you,” said Kurt. He felt stupid-- about to cry because he was missing Sebastian’s presence so much. “How’s Mexico?” he asked instead.

“Crazy shows, but it's so boring afterwards without you,” he explained. “Next time, I’ll bring you. We can go to a beach. Just the two of us.”

“Sounds amazing,” he said. “Bring me everywhere you go from now on, please?”

Sebastian smiled.

“Deal,” he said. “But what about your acting career? You might have to travel too.”

“I’ll take you with me too,” he said, pouting.

“Hey,” said Sebastian, seriously. “No matter what, no matter how far away we are, we’re still together and strong, OK?”

Kurt nodded. This time he couldn’t stop the tears that fell down his face. They were both sad and happy tears.

“Je t’aime,” he said, at a loss for words in his own language.

“Je _t’adore_ ,” replied Sebastian.

**Eight months later**

When Sebastian finally set foot in the Hummel household, it was well into their relationship. At first Sebastian went on tour abroad. Then they planned a visit, only for it to be called off due to the fact that Kurt had been offered a minor role in an episode of Criminal Minds.

(Burt had watched the hell out of that episode, even if Kurt was on it for all of five minutes. He actually had lines! Burt felt his chest fill with pride every time he saw his son on his screen, right there in his living room.)

Burt and Carole had visited Kurt in LA instead. They had met Sebastian in his own territory, an evening after he’d been shooting the third season of that TV series of his. Burt’s first impression of him wasn’t good. He was trying too hard. But Kurt seemed to like it that way, so Burt dealt with it. He knew his son was high maintenance and Sebastian seemed to be living up to Kurt's standards. Plus, he reasoned, not getting attacked with a song just after meeting him was an improvement over Kurt’s last “relationship.” It being real was also a huge advantage.

The day of Sebastian’s first visit to Lima, he and Kurt arrived early. They had decided to fly at ungodly hours so they could spend as much time with Burt and Carole as possible before they had to go back. Sebastian was still working in _Dalton_ , but not for much longer, if he was to be believed. Kurt was in talks for another minor role in White Collar. Carole was even more excited about that one than about Criminal Minds.

They had dinner together at Breadstix. Sebastian seemed a little uncomfortable, but he didn’t complain about the place or about their small town (at least not in front of Burt). He was obviously nervous and seemed to be biting his tongue constantly. That would have made Burt suspicious, but when he looked at Kurt, he saw complete trust in his son’s eyes. He decided to keep his thoughts to himself for the moment being.

When they got home, they watched TV until Kurt called it a night and went upstairs to take a shower and start his “nightly routine”. Carole remembered she needed to take the chicken out of the freezer. That left Sebastian and Burt all alone in the living room. Sebastian cleared his throat.

“Sir?” he said.

“Yes?” said Burt.

“I wanted to ask something—”

Burt grunted.

“Is this about marrying Kurt? Because I don’t have good experiences with that.”

Sebastian paled.

“No!” he protested. “No, not at all. I mean… I’m sure I’m going to ask Kurt to marry me eventually, well into the future, when we’ve spent more time together and we’re both successful…” he seemed to realize he was rambling when he saw Burt’s little smile playing in his face. Then he went to the point. “I’ve asked Kurt to live with me,” he said. Then he got quiet and gulped, as if he wasn’t sure wether what he’d said was appropriate.

Burt felt gracious.

“Yes, Kurt told me. He tells me everything,” he added, a little menacing, but not too much.

Sebastian nodded, reassured.

“My apartment isn’t big enough for two people. Or nice enough, for that matter. So we’re apartment hunting at the moment. But when we finally move in, would you consider coming to visit us for our house warming? Kurt says he misses you guys all the time, and I know it’s not an easy trip to make all the way to LA, but…”

Burt nodded.

“I’d go visit Kurt if he moved to Africa, son,” he said. “I’m glad to know I’ll be well-received in his new home.”

“Of course!” said Sebastian. “And if you need any help at all buying the plane tickets…”

Burt shook his head.

“We’re not discussing money, kiddo.”

Sebastian let a small satisfied smile appear on his face at the nickname.

“I’m not _discussing,_ I’m just saying. If you ever want to come visit us, just say the word. I _have_ the money. And I’ll be honest, I’d buy the moon if Kurt wanted it,” he explained. His face was completely smitten for a second. Then he looked at Burt, with wide eyes.

Burt just smiled at him.

“I get it. I’d do the same.”

Sebastian grinned.

“Bas?” called Kurt from the stairs.

He was wearing his pajamas and looked sleepy.

“Yes, babe?”

“It’s late. Time for our nightly skin-care routine,” he said, rubbing his eyes. 

Sebastian looked at the time on his cellphone.

“Oh, you’re right. Coming up! Good night sir!”

“Just call me Burt,” he said.

Sebastian’s face filled with pride.

“Thank you, Burt. Good night. Good night, Carole!”

“Good night, sweetie!” she said from the kitchen.

"Night, night!" said Kurt.

Sebastian stood up and rushed upstairs, as if “skin-care routine" was code for sex.

Burt paled and lost his smile. Maybe it was.

He didn’t want to know.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

**Six years later**

_Dalton_ was long over by the time Blaine approached him at the after-party of an Emmy ceremony.

“Hi, Kurt,” he said, in his usual soft voice.

Kurt’s whole body got tense for a second. He hadn’t heard that voice in years. When Blaine smiled at him, it was puzzling. He didn’t remember that smile at all. Perhaps it was the time that had passed. Perhaps it was that Blaine was more of an adult now, but he looked different. 

“Hello,” said Kurt, always polite.

“Kurt…” said Blaine then, with sad eyes. “I just wanted to say that I’m sorry for everything I did. I was… I know it’s no excuse, but I was young, and clutching fame and all these ‘perks’ with all my being. And to be honest I was just a shitty person.”

“Blaine…” Kurt tried to say. But no words came out. We couldn’t contradict him.

“It’s OK, you don’t have to say anything. I just wanted to say that I’m sorry. You said you’d tell me when you’d forgiven me. I’ll wait as long as necessary. I just saw you here and I had to tell you… I’m really grateful, Kurt. You taught me so much in so little time. You were the reason… I know you won’t believe this, but I’ve changed.”

Was that a come on? Because it sounded an awful lot like a come on, and Kurt was having none of it. But then a tiny, skinny guy dressed in a fashionable suit came to stand next to Blaine, and his expression changed. Blaine Anderson was, for the first time since Kurt had met him, a ball of actual fluff.

“Kurt, this is my fiancé, Chandler.”

Kurt focused on the man next to Blaine. He would have laughed in their faces had it not been for years of training as an actor.

_HOLLY COW_ , he thought.

“Hello, there,” he said instead. “Nice to meet you, Chandler.”

“Hello, Kurt, nice to meet you too,” said the guy, happily. “I’m sure everyone’s said this to you tonight, but you look _amazing_. That hippopotamus brooch is awesome,” said the guy.

“Thank you,” said Kurt, still holding back his feelings. “It’s vintage, now.”

“Your whole outfit is _fabulous._ I’m sure you get compliments about your outfits all the time, just like Blaine does,” he said, practically dancing on his feet.

Blaine was just grinning as he stared at Chandler.

“I do… actually,” said Kurt, trying hard to keep it together. “Listen, it's been a pleasure meeting you both and seeing that you’re so… happy, but I’ve gotta go. Is that Sebastian calling me? See you around,” said Kurt in a breath.

By the time he found Sebastian, he was about to lose it. As soon as he reached his partner, he started laughing so hard that Sebastian had to take him aside to wait it out.

“Are you alright?” he asked, a bit worried but mostly amused.

“I’m fantastic,” he said. “Do you remember Chandler the handler?”

“The social media guy that sexted using your official twitter account and then forgot to delete the DMs?”

Kurt snorted.

“The one and only.”

“Unforgettable, but why is he coming up in this conversation?”

“Cause he’s here with Blaine. Look,” he said, pointing at the scene with his chin.

Sebastian turned discreetly, only to be met with the strangest pair he'd seen in his life.

"Correct me if I'm wrong," he said. "But don't you own that exact same suit?"

"Yup," said Kurt. "But that's not even the point. The point is they’re getting married." 

“No way!” smirked Sebastian. “His messages were awful! He just kissed so much ass!”

“A match made in heaven.”

They giggled together like children. Sebastian hugged Kurt’s shoulders, both of them still shaking.

“This is one the best days of my life,” confessed Kurt.

“Because Blaine is marrying an ass kisser that’s basically copycat you?” asked Sebastian, raising an eyebrow.

“No!” said Kurt, laughing out loud again.

Sebastian smirked.

“Why is it, then? Did you finally get to fuck young Leo DiCaprio in the backseat of a classic car?”

Kurt shook his head, trying to stop laughing, but Sebastian’s comment set him off again.

“I’m just… I’m just so happy. I've won an award I could only dream of some years ago. I’m with you. Everything is perfect. And that makes me so fucking happy.”

Sebastian’s grin could light up the room.

“I’m happy about all of that too,” he said softly.

He leaned in and kissed Kurt’s nose, then his lips, once, twice, three times. Kurt put his arms around him and held him as close to him as possible.

“ _Je t’aime_ ,” said Kurt in a whisper.

“ _Je t’adore_ ,” replied Sebastian.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

**Eight years later**

Sebastian sighed and went back into their home.

“Kurt?”

“Kitchen,” he yelled.

He found Kurt frowning and chopping vegetables for dinner. He washed his hands, took another knife and started to help.

“I’m not angry anymore,” he declared.

“Well, thank god, otherwise the sight of you holding a knife would be terrifying,” said Kurt, rolling his eyes.

Sebastian bit his tongue. He knew Kurt didn't really think that, he was just being defensive. But he was decided not to escalate things.

“I’m sorry about earlier,” he said.

Kurt shrugged.

“You might not be angry anymore, but I am. So shut up and chop. I’ll tell you when I want to talk.”

Sebastian nodded.

“Where are my babies?” he asked then.

“Marc got into a funk after you left, so I gave him a toy and let him go out. He’s in the backyard.”

“Jacobs?”

“Jacob cried when he noticed he was the only one still inside. I let him out too.”

“OK. It’s Jacobs, though.”

Kurt frowned.

“No. It’s Jacob, like in Twilight.”

“Nope, I’m pretty sure we didn’t name our dog after someone you had the hots for in high school.”

Kurt blinked.

“He’s fictional, Sebastian!” he cried. “And we agreed, Marc and Jacob.”

“Nope, we agreed Marc Jacobs, and only because of my favorite sweater.”

“It’s _my_ sweater, but you never let me wear it anymore,” complained Kurt.

“You can wear it forever,” said Sebastian, dismissively. “Or…” he said, suddenly getting an idea to calm Kurt down. “Or I could wear it tonight.”

Kurt rolled his eyes again. “Just like every other night?”

“I mean I’ll wear that sweater. And nothing else.”

Kurt put the knife aside.

“I’m still angry,” he announced, just before turning to the sink to wash his hands.

“Angry sex is super hot,” replied Sebastian playfully.

Kurt patted his hands dry and turned back.

“Well? Then?” he snapped his fingers. “Move! That sweater is not going to come flying to you.”

Sebastian laughed and rushed to their bedroom. Kurt followed after making sure their dogs were back inside.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

**Ten years later**

Kurt was brushing his teeth when he came up with the idea. He peered into the room, where Sebastian was still lazing around in their bed.

“I could’ve been a fashion designer, and you could’ve been a model.”

They sometimes played How We Would Have Met In Other Realities. It was fun and heartwarming.

Sebastian opened one eye.

“What I’m getting from that is that I have the bod of a model. And I’ll take it.”

Kurt snorted.

“To be honest, you’re letting yourself go.”

“I am,” confirmed Sebastian. “I’m taking you for granted. Now that you’re trapped, I don’t have to be fit anymore.”

Kurt glanced at his wedding ring and smiled.

“I could leave you for a real model.”

Sebastian stretched on the bed. His shirt went up his torso, showing his tummy. Kurt wanted to bite every single part of him. Perhaps later.

“Don’t leave me, I’ll do better,” said Sebastian, lazily. “I promise to get in shape before my next tour.”

“You’d better. If you stop breathing mid-song your fans will throw their phones at you.”

Sebastian smirked.

“I like it, though. The idea of you being a designer. You’d have killed it.”

Kurt smiled back. “I like the idea too. Perhaps one day when I’m not working on five projects at a time."

"Here's another idea. I could've been a student in real Dalton. And you would've been a public school student. We would be in rival show choirs."

Kurt shook his head.

"Nah. The only time one of us in New Directions tried to date someone from a rival show choir, she got egged."

Sebastian blinked.

"Your glee club story is the gift that keeps on giving."

"Mhm," confirmed Kurt. "Oh! Here's another one--I could’ve been Lady Gaga’s assistant. Then I’d have met you at the AMAs or something.”

Sebastian finally got up from the bed and walked toward him.

“I can see it. I’d be there, distracted by Gaga’s latest crazy outfit, and suddenly this man with an even crazier outfit would glare at me, and I’d fall for him right then and there.”

“I’m sorry I glared at you the second we met,” whispered Kurt, although they’d had that conversation dozens of times before.

“That’s fine,” said Sebastian. “How would I know now that you’re pissed at me if I didn’t remember that face you made when you first met me.”

Kurt pushed him.

“Asshole.”

He kissed Kurt’s forehead.

”Or,” said Sebastian. “You could’ve been a composer, secretly, as a hobby. And we would’ve met because I heard the demo of your song and I loved it, and I want to record it. Please.”

Kurt gaped at him.

”That doesn’t sound hypothetical.”

”It isn’t. Santana told me you were experimenting, and I asked to hear it. I’m sorry I didn't tell you before, but it’s beautiful. I want it for my next album.”

Kurt flushed.

”Really?”

”Really.”

Kurt pushed him to the bed.

"You're being all hot and cute and impossible again. I hope you're ready for the consequences." 

Sebastian raised an eyebrow and opened his legs. 

"I'm dying to experience all your consequences, Kurt," he said with a smirk. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK YOU to everyone who read, left kudos, or commented. I honestly didn't think you'd give this a chance, as I'm a newbie. You've made my days so happy, which is a lot to say during these times.
> 
> If you have time, let me know what you thought :)
> 
> (If you have even more time, would you tell me if you'd read any of my other kurtbastian ideas?  
> 1) older kurtbastian post klaine divorce  
> 2) amnesia trope with a twist  
> 3) canon Sebastian wakes up and he's a student at McKinley)
> 
> VIRTUAL HUG FOR YOU ALL. Keep being amazing. Don't let this ship die. It's awesome here <3


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